Saint-Saëns: Organ Music Volume 2

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in Andrew-John Smith [Saint-Saens has] an advocate who understands just how to lift from the printed page and project this remarkably rigorous yet beguiling music. The combination of this artist... — Gramophone Magazine, October 2011 More…

Release Date: 1st Aug 2011
Catalogue No: CDA67815
Label: Hyperion
Series: Organ Music
Length: 75 minutes

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Saint-Saëns: Prelude & Fugue Op. 109 No. 3 in C major

Work length9:35

$2.20

$3.00

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

I. Prelude

Track length3:08

$1.10

$1.50

II. Fugue

Track length6:27

$1.10

$1.50

Excerpt, Saint-Saëns: Improvisations (7), Op. 150

Work length9:00

$2.20

$3.00

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

IV. A major

Track length3:45

$1.10

$1.50

II. Feria Pentecostes

Track length5:15

$1.10

$1.50

Saint-Saëns: Prelude & Fugue Op. 109 No. 2 in G major

Work length6:15

$2.20

$3.00

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

I. Prelude

Track length2:19

$1.10

$1.50

II. Fugue

Track length3:56

$1.10

$1.50

Saint-Saëns: Verset in E minor

Work length1:34

$1.10

$1.50

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

Excerpt, Saint-Saëns: Improvisations (7), Op. 150

Work length14:25

$2.20

$3.00

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

VI. Pro defunctis

Track length8:53

$1.10

$1.50

III. E flat major

Track length5:32

$1.10

$1.50

Saint-Saëns: Prelude in F major

Work length1:46

$1.10

$1.50

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

Saint-Saëns: Verset in F major

Work length1:13

$1.10

$1.50

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

Saint-Saëns: Prelude & Fugue Op. 109 No. 1 in D minor

Work length10:35

$2.20

$3.00

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

I. Prelude

Track length4:46

$1.10

$1.50

II. Fugue

Track length5:49

$1.10

$1.50

Excerpt, Saint-Saëns: Improvisations (7), Op. 150

Work length21:30

$3.30

$4.50

Andrew-John Smith (organ)

V. Pro martyribus

Track length6:07

$1.10

$1.50

I. E major

Track length10:58

$1.10

$1.50

VII. A minor

Track length4:25

$1.10

$1.50

About
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About

British organist Andrew-John Smith once again brings his compelling artistry to the service of Camille Saint-Saëns.

Smith’s commanding sense of architecture, breathtaking musicality and astonishing control of dynamics and nuance is thrilling. As with Volume 1, this disc provides a rare opportunity to hear Saint-Saëns’s organ works played on the very instrument for which they were composed - the magnificent Cavaillé-Coll at La Madeleine, Paris.

The art of improvisation was essential for French organists and huge importance was placed on the development of this skill. Saint-Saëns was renowned for his extraordinary organ improvisations and it was said that ‘his genius was of an indescribable splendour’. In committing these extensive improvisations to paper he offers an insight into his instinctive musical logic and dazzling virtuosity. The Preludes and Fugues bear witness to the composer’s improvisatory flare and demonstrate the extent of his vastly imaginative compositional skills.

Reviews

October 2011

in Andrew-John Smith [Saint-Saens has] an advocate who understands just how to lift from the printed page and project this remarkably rigorous yet beguiling music. The combination of this artist playing this music in such an authentic setting proves to be unbeatable...This disc is a magnificent achievement: the recorded sound is engrossing and is devoid of any hint of the Parisian traffic soundtrack.

September 2011

His performance of this repertoire is compelling and absorbs the listener from start to finish. The music is of uniformly high quality, played on a fantastic organ by a supremely accomplished performer and is therefore to be highly recommended.

31st July 2011

The sequence is satisfying and diversified, the affecting charm and delicate catchiness of the G major Prélude et Fugue or A major Improvisation contrasting with the gigantic splendour of the climaxes of the C major and D minor fugues: a majesty of which this Cavaillé-Coll instrument is, one wants to say, uniquely capable.

4th August 2011

The preludes and fugues make a sharply contrasted trio: the first and last, in D minor and C, are grand in scale and conception; the second, in G, is much more compact and relaxed. Smith makes full use of the resources of the Madeleine instrument to colour them all.

25th August 2011

[Andrew-John Smith] underlines the imagination and variety Saint-Saëns brought to his organ writing.

Saint-Saëns: Organ Music Volume 2

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