Camille Saint-Saens, whose life spanned more than eight decades and his musical harvest was rich. Born in 1835, he showed immense early talent, making his official public debut at the Salle Pleyel at the age of just ten, performing concertos by Beethoven and that other famous prodigy, Mozart. Indeed, the American critic Harold C. Schonberg described him as “the most remarkable child prodigy in history, and that includes Mozart”. As a composer, Saint-Saëns was a classicist – his musical gods were Bach and Mozart – but there’s a crispness about his writing that still feels remarkably fresh. Saint-Saëns was a young pioneer, the first Frenchman to compose piano concertos as well as writing symphonies at a time when they were regarded with suspicion in France. His chamber music influenced later composers such as Fauré and Ravel.