Unlike the light and extrovert style of Saint-Saëns’ last chamber music composition, the piano trio in F Major, Op.18 which was written 9 years before, this cello sonata shows a huge dramatic power of darkness and sorrow. These sentiments are perceptible in the cello’s melody line which is often played in very low registers, and in the complex struggle between piano and cello. In the traditional string sonata composition, the melody usually stays in a high register accompanied by a piano harmony, but in Saint-Saëns’ innovation, with the cello melody often played in very low registers, even an octave lower than the piano part, we can still hear the cello’s melody line very clearly. Born in Paris, Charles Lefebvre was the son of famous portrait painter Charles-Victor-Eugène Lefebvre (1805 – 1882). After he obtained a degree in law he studied at the Paris Conservatory. He won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Jugement de Dieu in 1870. After several years living and studying in Rome (made possible by the Prix de Rome), he became the professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatory. He was a great admirer of Mendelssohn and Wagner. Around 150 published compositions are characterized by a precise, well-constructed nature. This cello sonata, whose precise date of composition is unknown, was published in 1896, when Lefebvre was at the height of his popularity in Paris. As he was a Wagnerian, we can find the influence of the Leitmotif concept in this composition. This album recorded with vintage tube microphones, mixing with vintage tube gears and recording directly into STUDER A807 MK 2 analogue tape recorder.