Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No.1 | Emmanuelle Bertrand, Pedro Halffter, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris

Details

Description

The Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33 by Camille Saint-Saëns is one of the most frequently performed and popular cello pieces in music history. Here, it is being interpreted by French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris under the baton of Pedro Halffter in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (2005).

The piece grants the soloist many opportunities to shine as a virtuoso as Emmanuelle Bertrand puts the tremendous lyrical qualities of her instrument on full display. Saint-Saëns managed the tricky task of maintaining the tonal balance between the symphonic orchestra, which was by no means reduced to a mere accompaniment role, and the solo cello.

(00:23) I. Allegro non troppo
(05:56) II. Allegretto con moto
(10:54) III. Molto allegro

French pianist, conductor, musicologist, and composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) is still known today for his “great zoological fantasy,” the “Carnival of the Animals,” as well as his opera “Samson and Dalila.” But his Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33 is also an integral part of the great cello virtuoso’s repertoire and is not only popular with audiences but also has a number of unusual qualities.

For one thing, there are three movements in this cello concerto from 1872, but, at the same time, the work is actually one continuous movement in which each individual movement merges into the next. This was unusual for Camille Saint-Saëns, who was one of the more traditional composers of the Romantic period, adhering to traditional concerto forms. Moreover, he peppered the third movement of his cello concerto with complicated solo parts in all of the cello’s registers. He dedicated the work to French cellist and viola da gamba player Auguste Tolbecque. It was he who premiered the work in Paris in January 1873.

Many of his contemporaries later considered Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33 to be the greatest cello concerto of all time. It paved Saint-Saëns’ way into French musical society. In addition to the merging of individual movements, another special feature of the Cello Concerto is that the composer does not begin with an orchestral introduction, as is customary, and the solo instrument comes in later.

The orchestra plays only a single chord, and the cello enters in immediately and forcefully. The first movement feels like a dialog between cello and orchestra. The second movement opens turbulently and ends in a minuet. In the third movement, motifs from the first movement are taken up and reworked with new themes. In this way, all three movements come together.

Emmanuelle Bertrand, born on November 5, 1973 in Firminy, France, studied at the Conservatoires Nationaux Supérieurs de Musique et de Danse of Lyon and Paris. She achieved great popularity by winning in the “New Talent” category of the “Victoires de la musique classique” in 2002. She then went on to win many more awards. Among other things, readers of Diapason magazine and listeners of the broadcaster France Musique selected her as the “Artist of the Year” in 2011. In 2022, she again won the “Victoires de la musique classique,“ this time together with cellist Sol Gabetta in the category “Instrumental Soloist.”

As a soloist, Emmanuelle Bertrand has already shined with numerous famous orchestras. She also has a great passion for chamber music, however, and plays in a duo with pianist Pascal Amoyel. In 2017, she founded a trio with cellist Christophe Giovaninetti and pianist Michaël Lévinas. She teaches chamber music and cello at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. In 2022 she became the first woman to be appointed cello professor in the history of the institution, which was founded in 1795.

© 2005 Karl More Productions

You can find more cello music in our cello playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBWUqJW4DmeqFaZFwglTzRSv

And watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBV5A14dyRWy1KSkwcG8LEey

Subscribe to DW Classical Music:
https://www.youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic

#saintsaens #cello #celloconcerto