Thierry Fischer: Utah Symphony - Saint-Saens: Symphony No 1 & The carnival of the animals

Don�t be fooled by those well-known portraits of Saint-Saens the bearded eminence grise�the two symphonies recorded here are the work of the young Camille, spreading his compositional wings and displaying a technical fluency far beyond his teenage years. In between, a certain musical menagerie roars, clucks, brays and squawks for attention �