London Philharmonic Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon
Saint-Saëns
The French composer Camille Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy. His father died just after he was born, and he was brought up by his mother and an aunt who began to teach him the piano when he was two. He was composing by the age of three, and played concertos by Mozart and Beethoven when he was ten. He also showed a keen interest in other intellectual pursuits, particularly archaeology, geology, astronomy and philosophy.
Saint-Saëns studied at the Paris Conservatoire, and was organist at the Madeleine church in Paris from 1857-76. After hearing him improvise, Liszt declared him the greatest organist in the world. In return, Saint-Saëns acknowledged Liszt's influence on his own symphonic poems of the 1870s:
Catherine Wyn-Rogers contralto Simon Kirkbride bass
The Hertfordshire, Harlow and East London Choruses
Michael Kibblewhite director
James O'Donnell organ
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