Apart from his Symphony No. 3, "Organ,"
Camille Saint-Saëns' most popular organ piece is his Fantasie in E flat major; the fame of these two favorites might suggest that his output for the instrument was small, and one might guess from their comparative simplicity that he had little connection with organ music. Yet
Saint-Saëns served as organist for the churches of Saint Severin, Saint-Merry, and the Madeleine in Paris for well over two decades, and his career led him to compose extensively for church services, recitals, and dedications. This album in Naxos' Organ Encyclopedia series presents a handful of
Saint-Saëns' neglected organ works -- the Prelude and Fugue in E flat major, Op. 99/3; the third of his Three Rhapsodies on Breton Melodies, Op. 7; and the Seven Improvisations, Op. 150 -- as well as the celebrated Fantasie, and Émile Bernard's transcription of the Adagio from the Symphony No. 3, to give a fairly rounded sample of both early and late works, and to restore a part of the composer's portrait that seems to have faded somewhat, due to far greater attention paid to his orchestral works.
Robert Delcamp's refined performances on the Romantic Stahlhuth-Jann organ in St. Martin's Church in Dudelange, Luxembourg, give
Saint-Saëns' music an authentic period registration, and Naxos has provided wonderfully clear and fully resonant sound quality.