Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33

Program notes

About the Work

Saint-Saëns’s First Cello Concerto, composed in 1872, is one of the cornerstones of the cello repertoire; composers as different as Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich ranked it among the greatest of all cello concertos. He wrote it for Auguste Tolbecque, a distinguished French cellist, viol player and instrument maker, who gave the premiere with the orchestra of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in Paris on 19 January 1873.

What makes the concerto special is partly its form. Saint-Saëns broke with the traditional three-separate-movements design and cast the whole work as a single continuous movement, lasting under twenty minutes, within which three connected sections do the work of the usual fast–slow–fast scheme. The result is wonderfully concentrated and forward-moving: there is no time for padding, and the cello sings almost throughout. It is also beautifully judged for the instrument: Saint-Saëns, ever the craftsman, makes the cello brilliant and virtuosic without ever letting the orchestra cover its often low-lying voice.

Elegant, passionate and impeccably made, it is Saint-Saëns at his most appealing, and a perfect vehicle for a charismatic soloist.

What to Listen For

There is no orchestral introduction: after a single crisp chord, the cello bursts straight in with the surging, agitated main theme, one of the great concerto openings, immediately gripping. Listen for how this restless A-minor music drives the first section forward, the soloist rarely silent.

The magic of the piece is its seamlessness. Notice how the agitation gives way, without a real break, to the central section: a delicate, courtly minuet, the orchestra playing a graceful, slightly antique dance under which the cello muses and decorates, a moment of poise and charm at the work’s heart. Then the music gathers itself again and the opening energy returns, leading to new material and a broad, singing melody before the finale. Keep your ear on the cello line throughout: Saint-Saëns keeps it almost continuously in song, and the whole concerto unfolds as a single, beautifully paced arc from its stormy opening to its triumphant close.