It's enough to make you weep – Saint-Saëns wrote his first tune at the age of three, analysed Mozart's Don Giovanni from the full score when he was five, and at 10 claimed he could play all Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas from memory.
There's some consolation that, according to a contemporary, physically 'he strangely resembled a parrot', and perhaps even his early brilliance was a curse rather than a blessing, as he regressed from being a bold innovator to a dusty reactionary. In his thirties (in the 1870s) he was at the forefront of the Lisztian avant-garde. He was the first Frenchman to attempt Liszt's new genre, the 'symphonic poem', bringing to it a typically French concision, elegance and grace.
Charles Dutoit has few peers in this kind of music; here's playing of dramatic flair and classical refinement that exactly matches Saint-Saëns intention and invention. Decca's sound has depth, brilliance and richness.

Beautifully played performances, recorded in the Kingsway Hall with splendid atmosphere and colour. Charles Dutoit shows himself an admirably sensitive exponent of this repertoire, revelling in the composer's craftsmanship and revealing much delightful orchestral details...Altogether a splendid collection.

A collection of shorter orchestral works from Charles Dutoit and the Philharmonia Orchestra, including Danse macabre as well as lesser-known pieces such as Phaéton, Le Rouet d'Omphale, La jeunesse d'Hercule, and Marche héroique. Dutoit also conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in two works for violin and orchestra, Havanaise and Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, for which they are joined by Korean virtuoso Kyung Wha Chung.