Recording
- II. AndanteMagda Tagliaferro, piano; Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux; Jean Fournet · 1954, Salle Apollo, Paris11:49
Saint-Saëns described this slow movement as a voyage to the Orient, with a Nubian love song in G, a chirruping episode in F♯ major and a cadenza in the manner of a Spanish guitar. Magda Tagliaferro plays it with Jean Fournet and the Lamoureux orchestra in Paris, 1954.
Listening notes
- Opening chord and piano runs
The orchestra opens with a sharp chord and syncopated string rhythms. The piano enters with runs and a new theme. This is the first stage of what the composer called a voyage to the Orient.
- Composition in Cairo, 1896
Saint-Saëns wrote the concerto quickly. He reached Cairo on Sunday 22 March 1896 and began work the next day, and by 26 March he reported 35 pages of score. On 16 April he told his publisher that it had been finished the day before.
- Melody in G, piano
The piano introduces a melody in G. Saint-Saëns said it was a Nubian love song he had heard boatmen sing on the Nile. Piano and orchestra then take it up together.
- Episode in F♯ major, tam-tam
The music moves to the distant key of F♯ major. Quiet chirruping sounds beneath a Chinese-sounding melody, with soft blows on the tam-tam. Saint-Saëns described the passage as crickets and frogs, and said that here the voyage reaches the Far East.
- Cadenza
A cadenza in the manner of a Spanish guitar follows. The movement has at least as much Spanish flavour as Egyptian.
- Return of the opening material
After the cadenza the opening material returns, and the movement fades out into silence.
- Jubilee concert, Salle Pleyel, 1896
On 2 June 1896, fifty years after his debut, the composer played the concerto at his jubilee concert in the Salle Pleyel with the Conservatoire orchestra under Paul Taffanel. Writing in Le Monde musical, Édouard Mangeot said he had never heard a work more colourful or gripping.