Bizet; Gounod; Saint-Saëns - Premières symphonies (Kazuki Yamada)

Information

Composer: Georges Bizet; Charles Gounod; Camille Saint-Saëns

• Bizet - Symphony in C Major, GB 115
• Gounod - Symphony No. 1 in D Major, CG 527
• Saint-Saëns - Symphony in A Major, R. 159

Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo

Kazuki Yamada, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: Alpha Classics

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This Alpha Classics release inaugurates a collaboration with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo under Kazuki Yamada, devoted to French symphonic repertoire. It features early symphonies by Saint-Saëns, Gounod, and Bizet, all composed in the 1850s. Saint-Saëns wrote his youthful “Symphony No. 0” at just fifteen (1850), while Gounod, recovering from the setback of La nonne sanglante being withdrawn from the Paris Opera, composed his Symphony for the Société des Jeunes Artistes in 1855. That same year, the seventeen-year-old Bizet composed his Symphony in C major, heavily influenced by Gounod’s work, which he had recently transcribed for piano four hands.

Kazuki Yamada (b. 1979, Kanagawa) is Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Artistic/Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. From 2026/27 he will also serve as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. A protégé of Seiji Ozawa, he emphasizes his “Japanese feeling” for classical music and maintains close ties with major Japanese orchestras. Winner of the 2009 Besançon Competition, he has since performed with leading soloists worldwide. Deeply engaged in education, he works with the Seiji Ozawa International Academy and CBSO’s outreach. Yamada now resides in Berlin while continuing an active international career.