Piano Concerto No.3 in E-flat major - Camille Saint-Saëns

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner. Louis Lortie as the piano soloist.

I - Moderato assai - Allegro maestoso: 0:00
II - Andante - attacca: 12:13
III - Allegro non troppo: 18:38

The third piano concerto of Camille Saint-Saëns was composed in 1869, premiered on 25 November of the same year at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, with the composer as the soloist. The piece was poorly received. Strange as it may seem today, reviewers of the concert counted Saint-Saëns among the "progressive" composers of the time (Liszt, Berlioz, Wagner) whom they despised. One reviewer resented the concerto's "futuristic aftertaste," calling the piece "trite."

In Paris, the piece faired no better, one critic calling it "comparable to everything incoherent and tormented in Liszt's late manner." Comments such as these are more likely a response to Saint-Saëns' publicly expressed approval of Liszt and Wagner than an evaluation of the Third Piano Concerto. Ten years would pass before the piece was well received, after which it disappeared from the repertoire, overshadowed by the popular Second Concerto.

The first movement is written in an unusual sonata form, almost like a fantasia. It opens with E flat arpeggios in the piano, inspired by a torrent that Saint-Saëns saw in a trip to the Alps. The horn presents a calm, nostralgic theme, which, through a long crescendo, transforms into the heroic main theme, presented by the piano. The second theme, in contrast, is lyrical and dreamy. Before the development, a cadenza section comes, which is pretty unusual since they tend to be at the end of the movement.

The cadenza begins as a delicate passage for solo piano, before a stormy transition leads to the development, with the orchestra reappering. The development is harmonically complex, with the soloist employing many pianistic techniques such as parallel octaves, fast arpeggios, scales, and polyrhythms. A new cadenza for solo piano comes, with the constant presence of obsessive trills and gentle, melodical turns. A solo from the flute takes us to the recapitulation, in which both themes are repeated in a triumphal way. The music grows in an extensive crescendo, leading to a powerful coda.

The second movement is a slow and feverish Andante, written in a modified sonata form. It begins with a tonally ambiguous introduction, with chromatic chords on the strings that outraged members of the audience at the Leipzig performance. The unusual opening harmonies lead to a hymn-like theme for the strings, later shared with the woodwinds and piano. A contrasting theme is presented through a dark solo for the left hand of the soloist, continuing the innovative harmonic progressions of the opening sections.

Instead of a formal development, the central section presents a new poetic theme with a solo from the english horn, characterised by tenderly poetic piano figuration. The themes are recapitulated, featuring a beautiful solo from the cello. The dissonant introduction is referenced in an inverted way, connecting with the next movement.

The third movement is written in a modified sonata form. It begins with gentle timpani rolls coupled with teasing hints of a theme in the strings, before the piano bursts in triumphantly in a long crescendo. The main theme presented by the piano is joyous and frivolous, with exuberant cascades of notes in the solo part, contrasted by a lyrical second theme, presented through the winds and the piano.

In an old-fashioned manner, Saint-Saëns repeats the entire exposition, but the rest of the movement is continuous development to the end, without a clear recapitulation. The developement is short and harmonically clear, without the dissonances of previous movements. There are many technical difficulties confronting the soloist, including many octaves, rapid arpeggio and scale figures, and large chords. The work concludes with a series of brillian chords in E flat major.

Picture: "Norham Castle, Sunrise" (circa 1845) by the British painter J. M. W. Turner.

Analysis partially written by myself, taking into account these sources: https://bit.ly/315ZGXa and https://bit.ly/3kTHb01