This recording was made in the Tapiola Concert Hall, Finland, using Neumann microphones, Studer 961 mixing consoles, and a Genex GX 8500 MOD recorder.
Performer Biography
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, the conductor, is a French violinist of Russian extraction who won approximately ten international prizes between 1962 and 1968, including first prizes at the Carl Flesch, Geneva International, and Paganini Competitions.
Composer Biography
Charles Gounod, a French composer known for his operas, admired Saint-Saëns so much that he called him "the French Beethoven" for his contributions to instrumental music.
Composition History
Camille Saint-Saëns's Tarantella in A minor, Op. 6, premiered in 1857 at a soirée hosted by Gioacchino Rossini, who cunningly let the audience believe he had composed it himself.
Composer Biography
Gabriel Fauré, a professor and later director at the Paris Conservatoire, was a major influence on 'modern' Parisian composers like Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger, some of whom were his pupils.
Interpretation
Sharon Bezaly's mastery of circular breathing, taught by Aurèle Nicolet, allows her to overcome the limitations of the flute as a wind instrument and achieve new peaks of musical interpretation.
Performer Biography
Sharon Bezaly, the flutist on this recording, was named 'instrumentalist of the year' by the prestigious Klassik Echo in Germany in 2002.
