This arrangement was modified in its edition and violin indications. A very clean piano part was written. Very good edition of the entire score.

The M�ditation is an instrumental entr'acte performed between the scenes of Act II in the opera Tha�s. In the first scene of Act II, Athana�l, a Cenobite monk, confronts Tha�s, a beautiful and hedonistic courtesan and devot�e of Venus, and attempts to persuade her to leave her life of luxury and pleasure and find salvation through God. It is during a time of reflection following the encounter that the M�ditation is played by the orchestra. In the second scene of Act II, following the M�ditation, Tha�s tells Athana�l that she will follow him to the desert.

The piece is in D major and is approximately five minutes long (although there are a number of interpretations that stretch the piece to over six minutes). Massenet may also have written the piece with religious intentions; the tempo marking is Andante religioso, signifying his intention that it should be played religiously (which could mean either strictly in the tempo or literally with religiously-founded emotion) and at walking tempo, or around 60 BPM. The piece opens with a short introduction, with the solo violin quickly entering with the motif. After the violin plays the melody twice, the piece goes into a section marked animato, gradually becoming more and more passionate (Massenet wrote poco a poco appassionato). The climax is reached at a place marked poco piu appassionato (a little more passion) and is then followed by a short cadenza-like passage from the soloist and returns to the main theme. After the theme is played twice, the soloist joins the piano while playing harmonics on the upper register as the piano quietly play below the solo line.

Colin Kirkpatrick?s Sanctusfor cello and piano is a lyrical, elegiac melody that reflects the spirit of abygone age. The musical language istonal but chromatic and has proved a popular item at cello recitals where it?sbeen played. The piano shares some of the melodic material with the cello andthe music evokes peace and tranquility; there?s a brief yet passionate passagenear the middle of the piece before the music returns to the quite place whereit began. Some sections of the cello part are written in the tenor clef and therange goes into the fourth position, though the note A5 appears once. This workwould make an excellent addition to a cello recital. The score (piano andcello) and the solo cello part are presented in a single 7-page PDF file. (Duration:03:07)