Catching Up on Saint-Georges Violin Concertos

Cover of the first Naxos CD of violin concertos composed by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (courtesy of Naxos of America)

As I promised this past Monday, when I wrote about the third Naxos CD of violin concertos composed by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges between 1773 and 1777, I have now listened to the six concertos recorded on the first two CDs (three on each). The first of these was released in May of 2001 and accounts for the two Opus 5 concertos and the second of the Opus 8 concertos (which is sometimes known as the only Opus 8 concerto, as is the case on this particular album). The back cover of the second, released in September of 2004, departs more significantly from the scholarly account of the violin concertos on the Chevalier’s Wikipedia page. Ironically, however, those that download the tracks will find that the track titles confirm to the “Wikipedia standard.” According to that standard, the three concertos are the first from Opus 1, the second from Opus 12, and the third from Opus 3.

It is also worth noting that there is no overlap of personnel across all three of these albums. Specifics are, in “order of appearance,” as follows:

1. Violinist Takako Nishizaki performs with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra conducted by Helmut Müller-Brühl.
2. Violinist Qian Zhou performs with the Toronto Camerata conducted by Kevin Mallon
3. Violinist Fumika Mohri performs with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice conducted by Michael Halász (as previously observed)

In other words it would be fair to say that Naxos does not seem to have much care for those wishing to pursue Saint-Georges scholarship. To be fair, however, very few, if any, commercial labels have scholarship in mind as part of the production process! More important is that each of the three CDs provides the attentive listener with a thoroughly engaging experience.

Taken as a whole, these three CDs account for ten of Saint-Georges’ fourteen violin concertos. Presumably, the remaining four will be available on a single CD. However, since the interval between the second and third releases was almost two decades, it is unclear when this project will be completed. Clearly, I am not going to hold my breath!