Utah Symphony starts its Saint-Saëns symphonic cycle

The Utah Symphony and music director Thierry Fischer are launching a new recording project this weekend: the complete symphonies of French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, plus a handful of his other hits such as “The Carnival of the Animals,” to be released on the Hyperion label. Like other recent Utah Symphony releases, these will be recorded live in Abravanel Hall. Friday brought the first installment, the composer’s Symphony No. 2.

Saint-Saëns may lack the gravitas, and certainly the name recognition, of composers such as Beethoven and Mahler, but his music does have a sunny charm, and Fischer and his orchestra channeled it Friday night in a polished, incisive performance. Their deft…