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Track(s) taken from CDA68002

Allegro appassionato, Op 43

composer
1873; for cello and piano; orchestrated in 1876; dedicated to Jules Lasserre

Natalie Clein (cello), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Manze (conductor)
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Recording details: June 2013
City Halls, Candleriggs, Glasgow, Scotland
Produced by Simon Kiln
Engineered by Arne Akselberg
Release date: September 2014
Total duration: 3 minutes 57 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Alban Gerhardt (cello), Cecile Licad (piano)

Reviews

‘This is as close as you'll ever get to musical champagne; I've a feeling Saint-Saëns would have approved … Saint-Saëns's Second Concerto is fiendishly difficult, with much of its virtuosity reserved for the soloist's long accompanying episodes. The composer himself confessed it was 'too difficult' to achieve popularity. Yet Clein has the measure of it, delivering the dizzying double-stops with airborne grace and tight precision … she revels in the spacious cadenza of its curious, short fast movement, combining limpid vocalise with insouciant runs’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More
PERFORMANCE
RECORDING

‘This is a first-class recording, the fifth in Hyperion's series of Romantic cello concertos. Anybody wanting both Saint-Saëns's Cello Concertos and La muse et le poète really doesn't need to look any further. Natalie Clein is a comprehensively gifted player who performs these pieces with an ideal combination of warm-hearted expressiveness and astonishing technical agility. She also demonstrates a rare understanding of how the solo instrument is often woven into Saint-Saëns's beautifully written orchestral textures. And here, again, this release scores very highly. Andrew Manze and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra are the most imaginative and sensitive partners’ (International Record Review)» More

‘A new recording by Natalie Clein is always an event … and this one finds her on top form … this is exciting stuff with a real sense of happening … Concerto No 2 draws a muscular response from both orchestra and soloist. The beauty and freedom of Clein’s playing in the first movement’s three solo episodes and in the poignant Andante sostenuto is matched by her technical confidence and strong tone’ (The Strad)» More

«L'impressionnant travail effectué par Andrew Manze en tant que violoniste «baroque» a-t-il marqué son approche de Saint-Saëns, dont il donne une image vive et allégée, sans empâtement, plus chambriste que symphonique» (Classica, France)» More

Before the founding of the Société Nationale, one of the mainstays of the Paris concert scene was Jules Pasdeloup’s Concerts populaires, intended to bring good music to audiences at affordable prices. It was to the principal cellist of this organization, Jules Lasserre, that Saint-Saëns dedicated his Allegro appassionato, Op 43, written for cello and piano in 1873 and orchestrated in 1876. It is an uncomplicated piece in scherzo form, with a main tune that has a gypsy feel to it revealing, in one writer’s words, the ‘dark edges that haunt so many of his melodies’.

from notes by Roger Nichols © 2014

Avant la fondation de la Société Nationale, l’un des piliers de la scène de concerts parisienne étaient les Concerts populaires de Jules Pasdeloup, destinés à amener de la bonne musique à des auditoires à des prix abordables. C’est au premier violoncelle de cette organisation, Jules Lasserre, que Saint-Saëns dédia son Allegro appassionato, op.43, écrit pour violoncelle et piano en 1873 et orchestré en 1876. C’est une pièce peu compliquée en forme de scherzo, dont l’atmosphère tzigane du thème principal révèle, selon un auteur, les «côtés sombres qui hantent un si grand nombre de ses mélodies».

extrait des notes rédigées par Roger Nichols © 2014
Français: Marie-Stella Pâris

Bevor die Société Nationale gegründet wurde, waren die Concerts populaires von Jules Pasdeloup, die dem Publikum gute Musik zu bezahlbaren Preisen versprachen, eine Hauptsäule des Pariser Konzertlebens. Der erste Cellist dieser Organisation, Jules Lasserre, wurde der Widmungsträger des Allegro appassionato, op. 43, von Saint-Saëns, welches er 1873 für Violoncello und Klavier komponiert und 1876 für Orchester eingerichtet hatte. Es handelt sich dabei um ein unkompliziertes Stück, das als Scherzo angelegt ist und das eine zigeunerhafte Hauptmelodie hat, die einem Forscher zufolge die „dunklen Seiten, die so viele seiner Melodien begleiten“, aufzeigt.

aus dem Begleittext von Roger Nichols © 2014
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Casals Encores
CDA67831
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