Camille Saint-Saëns: Complete Violin Sonatas – Piercarlo Sacco

After having dedicated his compositional energies primarily to symphonic music in his thirties, Camille Saint-Saëns acquired a novel interest in chamber music. This led him to write, among others, his Violin Sonatas, all of which are connected with the figure of a violinist whose skill and artistry inspired the composer. His First Violin Sonata is the first he published, after having written other works in this genre as a child or a teenager. It is a deeply Romantic, enthralling and exciting work, with a touching Adagio at its heart and a wild perpetuum mobile as its closing movement. Its four movements are grouped in pairs, and the Sonata displays its composer’s exceptional skill as a creator but also as a performer himself. The Second Sonata is more Classical in style, and reveals the composer’s reaction to the innovative trends of the twentieth century. The Triptyque op. 136 showcases yet another trait of Saint-Saëns’ creativity, i.e. his penchant for exoticism in music.