I managed to give away something like a hundred disks that I either didn't want or already have: opera highlights, for instance. But I still have...I don't know, three feet or more of LPs, and have finally begun to listen to them. That's not as simple as it sounds, because I am a bit compulsive about wanting records to be clean before I put the needle of my precious turntable down on them, and I have to run them through a record-cleaning device before I play them. 

I pulled several dozen out of a box last week and got them ready to go. As they aren't organized in any way, it was a random selection. Then I pulled one at random from that bunch, and it happened to be this one:

Most of the records in this haul are from the '50s and '60s--the priest who owned them was quite elderly when he died. There's no date on this one but from the looks of it, and from the sonic quality, I'd guess it was released in the early '50s, possibly even the late '40s. I haven't been able to find any information on the company. Perhaps it was a budget label in its day. Or maybe not "perhaps" at all--there are several more disks from the same company in these boxes and the design is exactly the same on all of them.

Saint-Saëns is not a composer to whom I've paid much attention. I think of him as a sort of standard or generic 19th century composer. That's not a compliment, and of course it's unfair. I know I've heard the cello concerto at least once or twice, and probably others among his more often-performed work, but...well, like I said, they just didn't catch my attention. 

But I love this piece. I think I've listened to it at least five times over the past week. It doesn't reach great heights or great depths, but it's full of melody, it's continually interesting, and it has substance. After a couple of hearings I thought "This is like those baroque dance suites." Then later I read the description in Wikipedia:

The Septet (1880), for the unusual combination of trumpet, two violins, viola, cello, double bass and piano, is a neoclassical work that draws on 17th-century French dance forms. At the time of its composition Saint-Saëns was preparing new editions of the works of baroque composers including Rameau and Lully.

It's in four movements; I like the inner two best. The presence of the trumpet is definitely a little odd, but it works. Listen for yourself:

This performance seems more engaging than the one on my LP, but that may be only because the sound is definitely better. On the LP I can hardly hear the bass at all. Three of the performers, Harry Glanz on trumpet, Brooks Smith on piano, and Philip Sklar on bass, were well-known enough in their day that an internet search turns them up readily. Not so the Stradivari Records String Quartet, whose members are not named.

On one hearing I didn't care much for the Poulenc piece on the other side of the LP. I'll give it another chance, but a brass trio? Not really my cup of tea.