Lidström, Mats - Le Cygne - The Swan. Cello & Piano

My youngest son Leif was learning the piano part. We wanted to surprise his teacher, Graeme Humphrey, with a private performance. It was during piano practise that I started thinking ‘why not!’, why not compose my own swan! The idea is not a new one. There is a beautiful – and difficult! – Swan by Finnish composer Selim Palmgren (1878-1951), and a variant on Saint-Saëns’ original by his student Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938), enriched in the deliciously imaginative way so typical of him. For my own undertaking, I wanted part of the material to associate with Saint-Saëns’ Swan, to be immediately recognisable. Beyond beauty and resplendence, I sought no further.

Two different endings hint at Saint-Saëns’ original, in which the last chord of the piano part has the length of an eighth note. A remarkable end to a piece of such dignity and grandeur, possibly eccentric, but it often leads to performances ending on a fermata for both players. This is unquestionably very beautiful and atmospheric and comes with a guaranteed effect on an audience which is ready to seek relief in a sigh. This is to be weighed, of course, against the composer’s own design. Your call.