Leader, BERTRAM Lewis
Conductor, RICHARD AUSTIN
Solo violoncello,
CHARLES HAMBOURG from the Pavilion, Bournemouth
Saint-Saens's 'Cello Concerto No. i in A minor was composed in 1872 and first performed at a Paris Conservatoire concert in the following year. In its construction it shows the influence of Liszt, for it is in one continuous movement, consisting of three sections that in outline correspond to the three movements of classical procedure. But these sections are all thematically related to each other: the music is almost entirely based on the thematic material announced in the opening allegro section.
The ' Eroica ' was at first inscribed to Napoleon Bonaparte, but the democratic Beethoven's fury at Napoleon's proclaiming himself Emperor made him alter the dedication, though the ideal the composer had in mind remained to inspire the music. Attention may be briefly drawn to the heroic nature of the themes and the structure of the work as a whole, but particularly in the case of the first movement and the famous Funeral March movement.