• SONATA NO.1 in C minor, Op.32 (1872)
• ROMANCE   Op. 51 (1877)
• SONATA NO. 2 in F major, Op.123 (1905)
• THE SWAN (LE CYGNE) transcription from the suite Carnival of the Animals (1886)
• ALLEGRO APPASSIONATO  Op.43 (1875)

Saint-Saëns excelled at purely musical argument and nowhere is this clearer than in the music for cello and piano.  This medium seems to have occupied a special place in his imagination: his idol Beethoven had after all bequeathed several masterpieces for the combination, and almost the final task Saint-Saëns undertook was an arrangement of one of his own cello pieces, the Suite of 1862.

The Sonata No. 1 in C minor dates from 1872 and clearly displays the composer's debt to the Viennese classical tradition.  The opening Allegro is Beethovenian both in its opening theme and in the way it extends and develops motives.  Particularly striking is he staggered dialogue between the two instruments, the contrast between remote keys, and the use of the sinister character of the lowest register of the cello.  If the Andante tranquillo sostenuto sounds for a moment like Mendelssohn, it is surely because both he and Saint-Saëns were passionately fond of the music of J.S. Bach.  Bach's influence on the movement is two-fold: firstly in the piano ostinato with its typical wedge shape; and secondly in the hymn-like chorale theme which forms the basis of the movement.  Later, as a variation evolves, the rippling textures of Beethoven's late piano sonatas are recalled.

The full extent of Saint-Saëns' virtuosic piano writing is reserved for the finale.  The cello, tentative at first, and sometimes retreating into murmurs, sings several lyrical tunes above the rippling piano textures: a foretaste of the side of his music which would be further exploited by Saint-Saëns' pupil and protégé and pupil Gabriel Fauré.  One source claims that the work was "the result of an organ improvisation which the first and last pages reproduce note for note."

The Romance dates from 1877 and is one of many short, mainly melodic pieces for solo instrument.  Its imaginative accompanimental figure supports a memorable melody which dissolves into idiomatically written rhapsodic passages for the cello, with harmonics at the end.

The Sonata No. 2 in F dates from 1905, in terms of quantity not a highly productive year for the composer.  The exceptionally hard winter seems to have forced Saint-Saëns, a prodigious traveller, to seek warmth in Algiers and Biskra.  Though still cast in Viennese forms, the musical ideas of the sonata have evolved out of all recognition.  An increasing use of novel harmonic touches results in a piece which must surely be amongst the composer's finest works in any medium.  Complex in its interplay of themes, the first movement is remarkable for its sharing of musical material between cello and piano, and for long cantabile lines whose phrase-lengths are no longer four-square.  After a maestoso opening, a second theme, molto tranquillo presents a remarkable musical idea: a rising scale of whole-tones low on the cello, accompanied by a gently rocking phrase on the piano.  Later in the movement, the idea reverses in several ways; it appears with chordal interjections; with the instruments reversed; and most remarkable, just before the end, in a version where the scale is heard to descend.  By contrast, the Scherzo con Variazioni is a clear set of 8 variations on an octave theme presented by the piano.  The variations develop both melodic and harmonic aspects of the opening motive and the 6th and 7th variations are contrapuntal.  The final variation reverts to the opening material, superimposing a trilling cello part upon it.  The Romanza is a far cry from the 1877 Romance, its textures and harmonies being far more sophisticated.  The Finale, like the opening movement, is built on a number of clear melodic themes.  Three can be clearly discerned, at first presented separately, but combining as the piece moves on.

The Swan is the most celebrated movement from The Carnival of the Animals (1886).  A favourite with ballerinas, it was the only movement from this work which Saint-Saëns allowed to be performed and published during his lifetime.

Dating from 1875, the year of the composer's disastrous marriage, the Allegro appassionato also exists in a version with orchestral accompaniment.  Its catchy dance-like character has ensured it a firm place in the repertoire.