Masterly performances from Jean-Philippe Collard and the RPO. The great French pianist brings authority and virtuosity to these two concertos as well as impressive poetic feeling. His reading of the G minor has greater refinement than Ousset on EMI (coupled with the Liszt E flat Concerto) and every bit as much brilliance. A part from sheer beauty of sound, he commands a wide dynamic range and a subtle tonal palette, and the RPO under Previn give him splendid support. He observes every dynamic nuance and brings panache and sensitivity in equal measure to these scores. Schnabel once spoke of the Beethoven sonatas as music that is better than it can ever be played; no one would make the same claims for the concertos Saint-Saens concertos which are only as good as their performances—which means that in the hands of a Gilels, a Casadesus, or a Collard they sound very well indeed!
In discussing the Third Symphony in his classic study of French music from the death of Berlioz to the death of Faure the late Martin Cooper wrote ''the whole score breathes the high seriousness, the vibrating emotion and the faintly self-conscious showmanship'' of Saint-Saens art and went on to say ''his genius was literally superficial, in the sense that it was for the surface of things—for the fine cut of a melody, the thin but firm texture of good orchestration'', and that judgement applies equally well to the concertos. Collard plays them for all their worth and with such polish, exhilaration and bravura, that one is persuaded that this is music of greater stature than it is. The main rival is Pascal Roge on Decca with the same orchestra in the G minor (and the Philharmonia in No. 4) under Charles Dutoit, whose account of the solo part I described only recently as ''clean and elegant, and beautifully cultured''. Although my allegiance to the Decca remains unshaken, Collard with his greater dynamic range and panche makes more of this music, and he is superbly recorded too.'