Cello Sonata No.1 & Suite op.16

Saint-Saëns, lover of the cello. Written when he was only 27 years old, the Suite for cello remained one of Saint-Saëns’s favourite children all his life. Ten years later, in 1872, he discovered a new passion for the instrument, which led to the monumental First Sonata. ‘Nowhere else, perhaps, was his notion of pain and struggle so grimly projected’, to quote E. Baumann. The legendary ‘Swan’ from The Carnival of the Animals and other works for cello and piano complete this programme.