Piano Trio no. 2 in E minor op. 92

Begun in Algiers in March 1892 and completed in Geneva the following July, Saint-Saëns’ Trio no. 2 was given its premiere at the Salle Érard on 7 December by Isidore Philipp (piano), Henri Berthelier (violin) and Jules Loëb (cello). The composer had found the work difficult to compose due to troublesome social commitments: “What prevents me from writing music […] is all those unwelcome visitors, people always wanting me to come for lunch or dinner; I took a violent stand and sent them all packing, so here I am at work again.” The score is unusually structured in five movements. Two longer Allegros enclose the Andante, which forms the central section, and two jauntier interludes (an Allegretto with a surprising quintuple time signature, and a Grazioso, poco allegro in a waltz rhythm). The trio opens with a passionate first movement, described by Saint-Saëns as “black with notes and black in mood”. The skipping badinage of the Allegretto is interrupted by two eloquent, virtuosic episodes. In the Andante con moto, the dialogue between the instruments is underpinned by a haunting motif. The composer Charles Lecocq described the fourth movement as: “The child of the household who pops out to show the tip of his pink snub nose. We would like to chase him away, but he is so sweet that we end up listening to him while patting his head.” He particularly admired the rhapsodic finale, “a marvel of construction, although it doesn’t seem like it, because it all unfolds so naturally that it feels like an improvisation.” Saint-Saëns was to thank his friend later for his perceptive insights into his intentions.