Arrangement: Two Pianos

New Urtext Edition by Klaus Burmeister

First performance 13 May, 1868

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor was composed in the spring of 1868 for the impending conducting début of the Russian composer Anton Rubinstein in Paris. Saint-Saëns wrote the piece in little more than two weeks. The great hurry was essential in order to meet the scheduled date of the concert. nor did he have much time to master the solo part. After this unpropitious premiere, the work soon made its way into the repertoire.

One of the most prominent champions of the work was Franz Liszt: "The form is new and entirely successful; one's interest in the music grows with each of the three movements; and one receives a proper impression of its pianistic impact without scrificing any of the composer's ideas" - Liszt writing to Saint-Saëns on 19 July 1869