The Second Cello Concerto by Saint-Saëns is notably difficult, featuring many solo passages, large leaps, and extensive double-stopping.
Critical Reception
At its 1905 Parisian premiere, Saint-Saëns's Second Cello Concerto was famously described by one critic as 'bad music well written'.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Saint-Saëns championed the cause of 'art for art's sake,' especially in response to the French obsession with Wagner in the 1880s.
Composition History
Saint-Saëns's First Cello Concerto was the earliest known cello concerto by a major French composer, written in 1872.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Saint-Saëns deliberately gave La muse et le poète an improvisational structure as a critique of German insistence on formal rigor, which he felt was destroying music's soul.
Historical Context
The Société Nationale de Musique, co-founded by Saint-Saëns in 1871, aimed to promote French composers and surpass German musical influence after the Franco-Prussian War.
Instruments
Natalie Clein, the cellist on this recording, plays a 'Simpson' Guadagnini cello from 1777.
