Musicians and dancers on fresco at Tomb of Nabamun Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
The sights and sounds of the River Nile are evoked in this 'Egyptian' concerto by a mainstream French composer.
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was an over-achiever. He began as a child prodigy pianist and composer, graduated with the top prize from the Paris Conservatoire and wrote on subjects as diverse as archaeology, astronomy and philosophy. He composed in every known genre of his time, all the while continuing with his conducting and performing career.
From about the age of 40, he travelled more and more, first to Algeria and later to South America, the Canary Islands, Scandinavia, Russia and East Asia. Visiting London, he apparently played for Queen Victoria and spent considerable time studying the manuscripts of Handel in the library at Buckingham Palace. In 1900, he composed a cantata in celebration of electricity called Le feu céleste, which opened the Exposition Universelle in Paris.
Cédric Tiberghien Photo: Jean-Baptiste Millot
In later life much of his time was spent in Egypt and Algeria and in 1913, while he was in Cairo, Saint-Saëns was awarded the Grande Croix of the Légion d’Honneur by the French government.
Kazuki Yamada Photo: Marco Borggreve
Saint-Saëns' fifth (and final) piano concerto was begun in Luxor and completed in Cairo in 1896 and uses modal scales to evoke exoticism. He refers to his time in Egypt with the imitation of croaking frogs he heard in the Nile, a ‘Nubian love song’ and the turning of a ship's propellers in the Finale.
He wrote that the second part, "in effect, takes us on a journey to the East and even, in the F sharp passage, to the Far East."
These effects, plus the place of the concerto's origin, prompted the nickname ‘Egyptian’, but that name was not actually given by the composer.
Cédric Tiberghien (piano) with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Kazuki Yamada
Recorded by RNZ Concert on 17 November 2016, in Auckland Town Hall
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Adrian Hollay
