Saint-Saens from St Ouen

Johannes Geffert playing the Fantaisie in E Flat by Saint-Saens, it was composed in 1857 and used at the inauguration of the organ in St Merri, Paris. This recording comes from an old Mitra LP from the early 1980's and was originally recorded in digital, so perhaps they can one day re-issue it. My recording comes from a cassette recording of the LP (as my LP is in storage with my record player) so there are a few glitches here and there! It is one of the best recordings of St Ouen I know, so often recordings from St Ouen can sound cold, but the sound is warm and beautifully played.

Johannes Geffert (b1951) is professor for organ and improvisation at the State Conservatory for Music in Cologne, trained under Dr. Michael Schneider from 1969 until 1972 and continued studies with Nicolas Kynaston in the UK. He has been organist in Aachen, conductor of the Aachen Bach Society, director of church music in Kreuzkirche, Bonn and titulaire of Bonn's concert hall the Beethovenhalle.

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-121) was an extraordinary talent, from the age of 10 played in the Salle Pleyel, and as an encore offered to play anyone of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas from memory! He studied organ and composition at the Conservatoire de Paris and became good friends with Franz Liszt. He published his first symphony at just 16. He played the organ at St Merri and then at La Madeleine where his weekly improvisations stunned the public, causing Liszt to exclaim he was the greatest organist in the world. He taught only briefly at the Ecole Neidermeyer for 4 years, his pupils include Gabriel Fauré and André Messanger. He spent his latter years travelling and was granted a state funeral at La Madeleine.