Saint-Saëns: Allegro Appassionato, Op. 43

In the early 1870s, Saint-Saëns composed two significant works for the cello: the Cello Concerto No. 1 and his first cello sonata, which he dedicated to the cellist Jules Lasserre (1838-1906) The Allegro Appassionato, was also written during this period and dedicated to Lasserre. A brilliant piece that may have been intended as an encore, It become a standard in the cello repertoire largely due to Pablo Casals, who promoted it extensively in the early 20th century.