Saint-Saens Violin Concerto 3 [Dumay/ Yazaki-Orchestre Philharmonique De Monte Carlo]
I won this disc on an Ebay auction, i think for £7 [i put a bid of roughly £35 on it!], an absolute bargain considering how good it is, i never knew Dumay had made such a disc until i saw it, and i haven't seen another on Ebay since, even though it's now reissued cheaply [and visually it's reissued cheap too!], the original booklet has a fantastic photo of Augustin by Roberto Estrada, perfectly balanced with nice graphics in pleasing colours, making the disc so much more of a treasure to own than it already is.
The Saint-Saens Concerto is not a virtuoso warhorse, or full of glittery fireworks, rather its chief aim is to delight the ear, and it bristles with an array of gorgeous tunes and a variety of colours, an aural tropical fish tank!, there's something new to catch the ear every time you listen to it.
I enjoyed all three movements, but i suppose i'm a sucker for that lovely slow middle movement, what a disarmingly simple yet profound tune it is!, the coda is beautiful, the violin goes into a soft cadenza towards the end [6:23], and then comes this magical coda, where the violin can sound like a cross between a flute and a clarinet [7:01], a truly satisfying pastoral heaven.
You can hear this slow movement on YouTube, with Silvia Marcovici as the soloist.
