Hyperion Records

The Morceaux de concert by Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns are contemporaneous and were not only written for the same violinist but were also both intended as the first movement of a major concerto—in Saint-Saëns’s case his Violin Concerto No 3 in B minor, Op 61 (1880), written and dedicated, yet again, to Sarasate. In reworking his Caprice brillant, a duo for violin and piano written for himself and Sarasate fourteen years before, Saint-Saëns saved his Concerto in B minor from a fate similar to Fauré’s Concerto. However, he shared with his former student a long struggle to complete its first movement: numerous sketches testify to this hesitation. The Morceau de concert, Op 62 (1880), was once considered as an alternative to this movement. Ovide Musin was available to learn it and the work was published that year and dedicated to him.

from notes by Philippe Graffin © 2002