Hyperion Records

In 1884, soon after the premiere of his opera Henry VIII, Saint-Saëns completed both the Allegro appassionato, Opus 70 (not to be confused with a work of the same title for cello, Opus 43) and the Rapsodie d’Auvergne, Opus 73. The second of these pieces incorporates a tune which the composer heard a washerwoman singing in a mountain village, and is a rare example of his use of a melody from a region of his own country.

from notes by Phillip Borg-Wheeler © 2001