Saint-Saens: Complete Works for Piano

This series of Saint-Saëns' piano music, recorded in 1974, will be of interest to the composer's admirers, but it's not likely to win any awards. Most of the music consists of glittering generalities, with few memorable moments and a lot of padding. Saint-Saëns had inspirations, but he didn't waste many of them on his solo piano music. In the few cases when a piece has become familiar, we can tell that Dosse's performances are mostly just adequate, seldom exciting or insightful. She gets around the keys well enough, and the last of the Six Etudes (based on the composer's own Fifth Piano Concerto) is pretty dazzling, but elsewhere she seems to be just going through the motions. The solo piano music, recorded by the wonderful Elite team of Nickrenz & Aubort, has splendid sound quality. But the duets, recorded in Stuttgart, sound boxy and flat--except for "Carnival of the Animals," with the sparkling chamber orchestra. This certainly isn't a bad set, but it's only a compelling purchase for lovers of this composer who can't get enough of his piano music. Well, now they can. --Leslie Gerber