Maja Bogdanovic's interpretation of these cello concertos is imbued with her Slavic background, emphasising the passionate and tragic character of both works. Thanks to the perfect chemistry between her and the Serbian conductor and orchestra, the result is a dazzling and unique performance, providing a brand new insight into two famous works and, most importantly, the feeling of attending a live concert.
Charles-Camille Saint-Saens marked his time in a special way as one of the greats of the Romantic era in France. In 1872, Saint-Saens composed his first concerto for cello and orchestra, which belongs to the creative period in which the composer devoted himself to researching the limits of expression of the instrument.Known for the traditional form of his compositions, Saint-Saens composed the concerto in three movements; however, he made it possible for the conductor to plan the performance so that they progress seamlessly as a unique whole, conceived through three separate sections.He achieved this by interweaving similar thematic materials within the sections, mostly at the level of orchestral transformation.
Saint-Saens' Allegro appassionato, composed for the cello and orchestra, is certainly one of the most beautiful compositions in the Romantic literature for the cello. This piece was written in 1876. It is assumed that it was composed with the idea of being performed as an "encore".
The composer Edouard Lalo (1823-1892), a contemporary of Saint-Saens, is another interesting figure of the French Romantic period. The Cello Concerto in D minor is today much loved by cellists around the world. Lalo composed it in 1877, in collaboration with the Belgian cellist Adolf Fischer, to whom he dedicated the work and who premiered it in the same year with great success. Although there is no explicit use of Spanish folk melody in it, the rhythmic and melodic characteristics of the musical material suggest the temperamental spirit of that country.
"The Saint-Sa?ns concerto shines in new colors in a vital and particularly flexible interpretation. Bogdanovic's enchantingly lyrical but always excitedly communicative playing is in constant dialogue with the orchestra. Even in the Lalo concerto, this results in a fine performance full of style and substance ? a masterstroke" ? Pizzicato
