Bizet, Gounod & Saint-Saëns: Premières symphonies (2CD)

Camille Saint-Saens was only fifteen years old when he composed his first symphony, known as his Symphony No. 0, in 1850 - his official Symphony No. 1 did not appear until three years later. Gounod was thirty-seven years old when his La nonne sanglante was removed from the Paris Opera repertoire by a new director; he quickly regained his strength by composing a symphony for the Société des Jeunes Artistes in March 1855. In the same year, the seventeen-year-old Bizet began work on his Symphony in C major. Gounod's symphony clearly influenced Bizet's work, as he had just completed a transcription for piano four hands. This recording marks the beginning of a collaboration between the Alpha Classics label, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and its Music Director Kazuki Yamada, a great lover of the French symphonic repertoire and also Music Director of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and the Seiji Ozawa International Academy.