For decades, "Vox Boxes" were a favorite way for impecunious LP collectors to get creditable performances and recordings of a wide range of repertory at minimal cost. This three-CD set comprises material from a Vox Box of the 1970s, plus music from another Vox disc of
Saint-Saëns' music and is, hence, a spectacular bargain at its budget price. It includes all five of the composer's piano concerti, as well as three other works for piano and orchestra (Africa, Rapsodie d'Auvergne, and Wedding Cake), all played by
Gabriel Tacchino and the Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg conducted by Louis de Froment. The set is rounded out by five other concertante works featuring such soloists as violinist
Ruggiero Ricci and harpist Susan Mildonian.
Vox's set competes directly with a well-reviewed set on EMI featuring
Aldo Ciccolini, and bests it on all counts: The performances are marked by a more exact sense of ensemble, a greater attention to form, and a distinct stylishness. Further, they are better recorded (by Felix Margue at the Radio Luxembourg studios in Paris between 1974 and 1979), and the set is cheaper with all the extra material than the EMI set is without it. The Radio Luxembourg Orchestra sounds a little lightweight compared to the Orchestre de Paris, but this does not detract from this limpid music.
The quality of the sound and the performances in the additional material is somewhat more variable; for example, the balance between organ and orchestra in Cyprès et Lauriers is muddy, and Francis Orval's horn playing in the Morceau de concert and the Romance sounds watery and makes for a weak conclusion to the set. But for the remainder of the works represented, this box is a good choice.