Saint-Saëns was one of the great champions of the violin, and his friendship with the legendary virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate proved endlessly fertile. The disc opens with the First Violin Concerto in A major — a concise, three-movement work that unfolds without interruption, as if a single gleaming arc of thought, written when the composer was just 24 and already finding his brilliantly idiomatic voice for the instrument. The Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, likewise dedicated to Sarasate, follows with its own disarming freshness: a quietly melancholy opening gives way to a rondo of irrepressible joie de vivre, proof that minor-key music need surrender nothing to gaiety. The Havanaise brings a different kind of charm — its seductive habanera rhythm, redolent of Bizet's Paris and warmer climes, made it one of the century's most beloved encore pieces. The stately Sarabande, composed in the style of an earlier age for a revival of Molière's Le Malade imaginaire, offers a moment of poise and dignity, while the Morceau de concert rounds out the programme with a rhapsodic freedom that hovers between concerto movement and fantasy. Throughout, Jean-Jacques Kantorow leads the Tapiola Sinfonietta with the easy authority of a violinist who has lived deeply with this music — polished, pointed, and always alive.