Saint-Sa�ns: Piano Quartet & Piano Quintet

�The performances could hardly be more finely attuned to the technical challenges, while the composer's own booklet-notes set the scene succinctly...As a 'feast for the senses', Whalley's music demonstrably has much to recommend it.� --Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

�A gorgeous programme of Saint-Sa�ns� beguiling chamber music played with great authority and flair.� --MusicWeb International, April 2013

 �The Fine Arts Quartet play with perfectly judged elegance throughout. A fine recording.� --The Observer, June 2013

Saint-Sa�ns holds a vital place in the history of French chamber music. At a time when his compatriots were more devoted to opera and song, Saint-Sa�ns (who wrote both, too) repeatedly produced chamber music of compelling individuality and lasting significance. The 1875 Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op. 41 remains one of the great works in the chamber repertory, a masterful example of the composer�s organisational skill and lyric gifts. The gorgeous Barcarolle is followed by the youthful Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14, a brilliantly confident work with a concerto-like r�le for the piano.