Premières symphonies: Bizet, Gounod & Saint-Saëns Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo & Kazuki Yamada

• Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875): Symphony in C Major, GB 115:
• 1 Bizet: Symphony in C Major, GB 115: I. Allegro vivo 10:34
• 2 Bizet: Symphony in C Major, GB 115: II. Adagio 09:03
• 3 Bizet: Symphony in C Major, GB 115: III. Allegro vivace - Trio 06:51
• 4 Bizet: Symphony in C Major, GB 115: IV. Allegro vivace 09:06
• Symphony No. 1 in D Major, CG 527:
• 5 Gounod: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, CG 527: I. Allegro molto 06:40
• 6 Gounod: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, CG 527: II. Allegro moderato 05:56
• 7 Gounod: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, CG 527: III. Scherzo. Non troppo presto - Trio 05:32
• 8 Gounod: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, CG 527: IV. Finale. Adagio - Allegro vivace 09:50
• Symphony in A Major, R. 159:
• 9 Saint-Saëns: Symphony in A Major, R. 159: I. Poco Adagio - Allegro vivace 07:21
• 10 Saint-Saëns: Symphony in A Major, R. 159: II. Larghetto 09:06
• 11 Saint-Saëns: Symphony in A Major, R. 159: III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace - Trio 03:06
• 12 Saint-Saëns: Symphony in A Major, R. 159: IV. Finale. Allegro molto - Presto 06:13
• Total Runtime 01:29:18

Info for Premières symphonies: Bizet, Gounod & Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns was only fifteen years old when he composed his first symphony in 1850, which is known as his Symphony No. 0 — his official Symphony No. 1 would not arrive for another three years. Gounod was thirty-seven years old when his La nonne sanglante was removed from the repertoire of the Paris Opera by a new director; he swiftly restored his spirits by composing a symphony for the Société des Jeunes Artistes in March 1855. Bizet, aged seventeen, began work on his Symphony in C major that same year. Gounod’s symphony clearly influenced Bizet’s work, as Bizet had just completed a transcription of it for piano four hands. This recording marks the beginning of a collaboration between the Alpha Classics label, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and its music director Kazuki Yamada, a great lover of the French symphonic repertoire and also music director of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and the Seiji Ozawa International Academy.

Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
Kazuki Yamada, conductor

Kazuki Yamada
is Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Alongside his commitments in Birmingham, Yamada is Artistic and Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (OPMC). Yamada has forged a link between Monaco and Birmingham having conducted collaborative performances with the CBSO Chorus of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’ in both cities in 2019 and Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ in 2023.

Beginning with the 2026/27 season, Kazuki Yamada will also assume the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO).

His time under the close supervision of Seiji Ozawa served to underline the importance of what Kazuki Yamada calls his “Japanese feeling” for classical music. Born in 1979 in Kanagawa, Japan, he continues to work and performs in Japan every season with NHK Symphony Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Shortly after assuming his position in Birmingham, in summer 2023 Yamada gave a series of concerts on tour around Japan with the CBSO and in summer 2024 with OPMC.

Yamada’s passionate and collaborative approach to conducting means he commands a busy international diary of concerts, opera, and choral conducting. The current season begins with his return to the BBC Proms in summer 2024 with the CBSO, closely followed by his return to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin as part of Musikfest Berlin. In May 2025, he takes the CBSO on tour to Europe and on tour to Japan just one month later. Yamada also conducts the Monte Carlo Opera in a double bill celebration of Ravel with ‘L’enfant et les sortilèges’ and ‘L’heure espagnole’. He makes debut appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Filarmonica della Scala, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony. He continues regular guesting commitments with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de France, and Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg for a special performance of Fauré’s Requiem with Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus.

Yamada performs with soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Leif Ove Andsnes, Seong-Jin Cho, Isabelle Faust, Martin Helmchen, Nobuko Imai, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Alexandre Kantorow, Evgeny Kissin, Maria João Pires, Julian Pregardien, Baiba Skride, Fazıl Say, Arabella Steinbacher, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Krystian Zimerman, and Frank Peter Zimmermann.

Strongly committed to his role as an educator, Yamada appears annually as a guest artist at the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland and is strongly committed to the CBSO’s outreach programme. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international concert halls reaffirmed his belief that – in his words – “The audience is always involved in making the music. As a conductor, I need an audience there as much as the musicians“. Yamada studied music at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he discovered a love for both Mozart and the Russian romantic repertory. He first achieved international attention upon receiving first prize in the 51st International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors in 2009. Having lived in Japan for most of his life, Kazuki Yamada now resides in Berlin.

Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
when it was founded in 1856, was called the “Orchestre du Nouveau Cercle des Etrangers”, then in 1958 the “Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo”, and since 1980 the “Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo”. It occupies a prominent place in the international musical world.

Thanks to its ability to combine tradition and modernity, it plays a leading role in the interpretation of symphonic works of the great repertoire, the revival of rare and contemporary works and lyrical and choreographic creation. Since the end of the 19th century, the number of “world premieres” created in Monte-Carlo has been countless, and the great composers such as Massenet, Puccini, Ravel, Mascagni, Fauré, Franck, Honegger, Ibert, Lalo, Milhaud, Poulenc and Satie have found the ideal interpreter in the Philharmonic Orchestra.

Contemporary music has always been present in the OPMC’s seasons, with Henze, Dutilleux, Pärt, Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Holliger, Ligeti, Takemitsu, Eötvös, Amy, Mainz, Hurel, among others. From 1856 to the present day, the orchestra has been known by various names, including Permanent Conductor, Titular Conductor, First Guest Conductor, Musical Director and Artistic and Musical Director: Alexandre Hermann, Eusèbe Lucas, Léon Jehin, Louis Ganne, Marc César Scotto, Victor de Sabata, Paul Paray, Henri Tomasi, Louis Frémaux, Edouard van Remoortel, Igor Markevitch, Lovro von Matacic, Lawrence Foster, James DePreist, Marek Janowski, Yakov Kreizberg and Gianluigi Gelmetti.

Since the 2016-2017 season, Kazuki Yamada is the Artistic and Musical Director of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra.

We remember the greatest glories of the past among the guest conductors: A. Toscanini, W. Furtwängler, R. Strauss, B. Walter, D. Mitropoulos, E. Kleiber, A. Cluytens, G. Marinuzzi, Sir T. Beecham, C. Schuricht, K. Ančerl, Ch. Münch, E. Jochum, L. Stokowski, Sir. J. Barbirolli, P. Klecki, G. Szell, then among those closer to us, L. Bernstein, C.-M. Giulini, R. Kubelik, Sir George Solti, W. Sawallisch, K. Sanderling, G. Prêtre, L. Maazel, K. Kondrachine, Ch. von Dohnanyi, Z. Mehta, G. Rojdestvenski, Y. Temirkanov, as well as all of the current great conductors.

Extraordinary events have marked the history of the OPMC, such as the complete Bartók concertos by Zoltán Kocsis, Berlioz’s Requiem at the Dom in Berlin and at the Grimaldi Forum, Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder at the Grimaldi Forum, and later at the Berlin Philharmonic, with the Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, the Rundfunkchor Berlin and the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunkchor Leipzig.

The orchestra is regularly invited by the major festivals, Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Prague, Strasbourg, Montreux, Vienna, Orange, Dresden, Bonn, Leipzig, Ankara, Athens, Bad Kissingen, Bonn, Dublin, Lisbon, Lyon, Rheingau, La Roque d’Anthéron. He also makes numerous tours abroad (Austria, Germany, Belgium, China, South Korea, Spain, United States, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Switzerland).

Autumn 2010 saw the launch of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra’s “OPMC Classics” label. Five discs, conducted by Yakov Kreizberg, have been released, with works by Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel, Debussy, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich and Mahler. These recordings have won numerous awards from the music press. Under the direction of Gianluigi Gelmetti, a tribute disc to Léo Ferré (Symphonie interrompue and La Chanson du mal-aimé), a disc dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi and, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, a disc of contemporary works by G. Amy, P. Maintz and P. Hurel (conductor Jean Deroyer, baritone Otto Katzameier) have been released.

The recording policy continues with Kazuki Yamada, with a number of discs planned, including a first CD which was released in 2017: Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Rêverie et Caprice. In 2021, three new recordings are released.

Under the presidency of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra enjoys the support and encouragement of H.S.H. the Prince Albert II. The Orchestra, assuring him of its full confidence and esteem, is continuing along its own path: preserving its authenticity while resolutely looking to the future, thanks to a dynamic policy encouraged by the Prince’s Government and resuming its involvement in the life of the Principality.

The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by the Government of Monaco, the Société des Bains de Mer and the Association of Friends of the Orchestra.

Booklet for Premières symphonies: Bizet, Gounod & Saint-Saëns