The Romantic Cello Concerto Vol.5: Saint-Saëns
Natalie Clein; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Manze
Hyperion CDA68002
Outside musicological circles, the name Auguste Franchomme is probably unknown today, but during his long lifetime, he earned a reputation as a renowned cellist and composer. Not only did he inspire Chopin to write his one and only piece for cello and piano but he also provided the impetus for Camille Saint-Saëns’s first cello concerto in 1872. Saint-Saëns went on to produce two other works for the instrument, all of them included on this fine recording – the fifth in Hyperion’s Romantic Cello Concerto series – featuring cellist Natalie Clein and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Andrew Manze.
British-born Clein studied at the Royal College of Music and later with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. She attracted world attention at age 16 when she won the BBC Musician of the Year award, and since completing her studies, has appeared in concert halls throughout Europe, North America, Australia and Asia.
Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No.1 runs the whole gamut of emotions. It opens dark and impassioned, but there are also periods of quiet intimacy and sprightly good humour. Clein’s performance is commanding and technically flawless, her warm and resonant tone particularly suited to this late-Romantic repertoire. Thirty years lapsed before Saint-Saëns completed his second cello concerto in 1902. More serious in tone, it was chosen as a Conservatoire test piece by Gabriel Fauré. Saint-Saëns himself said of it: “It will never be as popular as the first, it’s too difficult.” Challenging is indeed the word, with its virtuosic passagework and frequent double-stopping required of the soloist. Clein meets the difficulties with ease and the orchestra under Manze’s skillful baton provides a solid and sympathetic foundation.
An added bonus is the inclusion of three shorter works, the optimistic La muse et le poète (with violinist Antje Weithaas), the Allegro Appassionato, and as an encore, an arrangement of the familiar The Swan from the Carnival of the Animals, thus rounding out a most satisfying recording.
