Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies Naxos, out now

This year marks the centenary of the death of the French composer, organist and pianist Camille Saint-Saëns. Naxos has marked it with a reissue of his Complete Symphonies, expertly performed by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under their principal conductor, Marc Soustrot (above).

This box is a snip at about £15 for more than 200 minutes of music. There are not only the five symphonies, but also the four symphonic poems, of which the Danse Macabre is among his most highly regarded pieces.

The first four symphonies, two of them unnumbered, were produced in his teens and early 20s. His only mature symphony from 30 years later, the Third, for organ and orchestra, is beyond doubt one of the most accomplished and deservedly popular romantic symphonies.

Saint-Saëns was also an outstanding organist, and the organ is brilliantly integrated into the orchestra. The finale, with lots of energy and verve, is perhaps the best-known thing he wrote. I prefer the beautiful slow movement, dominated by a totally memorable tune. The Marche-Scherzo from No1 is also unforgettable.

Saint-Saëns lived to be 86, his early radicalism replaced by a musical conservatism that his younger contemporaries found irksome. So when Debussy heard Saint-Saëns was still composing during the First World War, he responded: ‘Can’t they find him something more useful to do?’

That sort of cynicism has undoubtedly had a damaging impact on Saint-Saëns’ reputation, and readily explains why this centenary has not turned into a big event.