Saint-Saens, Le rouet d’Omphale

The succinctness of the symphonic poem "Le rouet d'Omphale" (1872) by Camille Saint- Saëns (1835-1921) belies its importance: it is one of the very first French symphonic poems. The impulse for Saint-Saëns' delightfully descriptive work perhaps came from Franz Liszt, whose symphonic poems Saint-Saëns was the first to perform in France. Leonard Bernstein conducts the Orchestre National de France in a concert recorded live at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on 21 November 1981 featuring French works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.