Margarita Balanas - Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 & Other Works (The Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Series) (2021) [Hi-Res]

As the Royal Academy of Music approaches its Bicentenary in 2022, Linn’s "Bicentenary Series" continues with debut albums from two exceptional recipients of the Academy’s 2019/20 Bicentenary Scholarships scheme: Margarita Balanas and Roberts Balanas. Known for her distinguished artistry and mesmerizing stage presence, cellist Margarita made her solo debut at Wigmore Hall at age seventeen. Since then, she has performed to audiences world-wide at venues including Royal Festival Hall and Southbank Centre, London, Berliner Philharmonie and Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles.

Playing on the Charles Adolphe Gand ‘Auguste Tolbecque’ 1849 cello, which was used for the premiere of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 in 1873, Margarita has recorded the very same concerto in an arrangement for cello and string nonet by Ilan Rechtman. Her Saint-Saëns recital also includes the simple, meditative Prière written in 1919, Romanza from the second cello sonata and the all-time favourite Le Cygne. Drawn from Lola, and arranged here by Mats Lidström, the haunting rhythms of Tango round off a programme perfect for Saint-Saëns’s anniversary year.