Saint-Saëns: O salutaris hostia

This CD is full of surprises and features relatively unknown works by Saint-Saëns.

La Lyre Séraphique perform motets and works for solo voice composed for the Madeleine Church.

Also included are solo organ works, performed by organ professor Vincent Genvrin.

This third volume completes Andrew-John Smith’s series of Saint-Saëns’ Organ Music, which has been praised for the compelling brilliance of the performances, the inspired choice of instrument and the remarkable quality of the music itself.

The recital ends with the formidable Fantaisie pour orgue-Aeolian, a work which makes extraordinary technical demands on the organist—in fact the composer himself wrote that it was ‘unplayable by the fingers and feet’. This led to the work being condemned to obscurity and it was as recently as 1988 that it was reconstructed and published for the first time. Andrew-John Smith’s performance defies this edict, and the translation of the original registration to the organ of La Madeleine is a feat of ingenuity.

Recorded in All Saint's Margaret Street, London on 17/18th December 1993

This is a newish organ that sits in the main concert hall in Christchurch, New Zealand. Built by Rieger, its sounds are exciting and for a concert hall not entirely dry. Martin Setchell is well known throughout the world as a concert organist and here he plays the organ which displays the virtuosity of both him and the instrument.