Piano Concerto No. 1 (Saint-Saëns)

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 17, by Camille Saint-Saëns was composed in 1858, when the composer was 23 and dedicated to Marie Jaëll. It is the first piano concerto ever written by a major French composer.

Movements

There are three movements:

  1. Andante - Allegro assai- The piano concerto opens with a Wagnerian horn solo that fades to light strings, a soft piano melody, and more strings before breaking into the main theme of the piece. The horn is prevalent throughout, as are the strings, before concluding in D Major.
  2. Andante sostenuto quasi adagio- The second movement is very dark and falls slightly short of eerie; low, slow cellos back-dropped by plucking violins lead to a soft and slow piano melody. Meanwhile, the strings play a large part in the piece while the theme from the opening movement continues.
  3. Allegro con fuoco- A thunderous finale mixes all of the themes from the horns, the piano and the strings in a uplifting and inspiring and blazing finale, ending in the key of D Major.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. A notable feature is an opening triadic solo for the natural horn which predates the much more famous example of Johannes Brahms's B-flat Concerto by around 20 years.

Recordings


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