2021 marks 100 years since the death of Camille Saint-Saëns, an acknowledged master of French music. Born in Paris in 1835, he lived through times of momentous change, travelled the world and enjoyed celebrity as an organist, pianist and, of course, composer.

Pianist Bertrand Chamayou, violinist Renaud Capuçon and cellist Edgar Moreau salute him with this album of three of his finest chamber works: the Violin Sonata No 1, Cello Sonata No 1 and Piano Trio No 2.

“These are splendid works,” says Bertrand Chamayou, “but only relatively rarely performed and recorded. This is essential French Romantic chamber music and French performers of our generation have a duty to share it with audiences. You can hear in his music that he was someone who had seen the world … but it is typically French in its clarity, transparency and limpidity. He is an academic composer in the sense that he writes music that is very well made, but he is also rather like a dormant volcano, simmering away inside.”

“The craftsmanship of Saint-Saëns’ music is very sophisticated,” adds Edgar Moreau, “but its appeal to the listener is direct and obvious. The musical language is Romantic, full of lyricism, contrasts and colour.” Renaud Capuçon sums up Saint-Saëns in a single phrase: “He is a French composer par excellence.”