Piano Trio No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)

The Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 92, was composed by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1892. It was premiered on 7 December 1892 at the Salle Érard in Paris, performed by Isidor Philipp, Henri Berthelier and Jules Loeb (cellist).

Structure
The work is unusually cast in five movements, and takes around 35 minutes to perform.

1. Allegro ma non-troppo (E minor)

2. Allegretto (E major)

3. Andante con moto (A♭ major)

4. Grazioso, poco allegro (G major)

5. Allegro (E minor) The first and last movements are considerably longer than the middle three, creating an arch-like structure.

I. Allegro ma non-troppo
The first movement is a lengthy movement in sonata form. It opens with a dark and ominous theme shared between the violin and cello, accompanied by widely spaced chords in the piano. The second subject presents a new lyrical contrasting theme. After a dramatic development section, the movement ends boldly with an unexpected plagal cadence in E minor.

II. Allegretto
This movement is a dance-like movement in rondo form, written in meter, in a similar vein to the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony. It alternates delicate, salon-like music with virtuosic outbursts, ultimately ending softly.

III. Andante con moto
The third movement is a brief but lyrical slow movement in the distant key of A♭ major. It is built around a small descending phrase first heard in the piano and then in the strings.

IV. Grazioso, poco allegretto
This movement is a graceful waltz in G major. It opens with a brief dark introduction before the piano introduces the main theme, cheerful in character. Two brief trio sections provide contrast in distant keys.

V. Allegro
The finale begins with a sinister theme in the piano in octaves, later joined by the strings. The music develops with increasing intensity before reaching a fugato with a theme first announced on the violin. The two themes are then combined and developed in a complex contrapuntal passage. The coda transforms the first theme into a moto perpetuo, which brings the work to a dramatic conclusion in the tonic minor.