Unlike his two Cello Concertos, performed by Maria Kliegel on Naxos 8.553039, Saint-Saëns’ Cello Sonatas are underrated works. The turbulent Cello Sonata No. 1, which makes full use of the lower registers of both cello and piano, reflects the composer’s sadness at the loss of a great-aunt and at the state of France following Napoleon III’s crushing defeat by Prussia at Sedan in 1870. Written more than 30 years later, the Cello Sonata No. 2 is a more ambitious and original work. ‘The Adagio will bring tears to your eyes,’ Saint-Saëns wrote to his publisher, Durand, while the last movement, propelled forward in the manner of a toccata, ‘...will wake anyone who’s slept through the rest of the piece’