CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
COMPLETE PIANO WORKS • 5
RARITIES AND TRANSCRIPTIONS
GEOFFREY BURLESON
‘Volume 5 of my complete survey of Saint-Saëns’ solo piano works features world première recordings of unpublished pieces I found in the Bibliothèque Nationale in 2013. Why they were never published is a mystery to me, as they are all striking, imaginative and very effective. Saint-Saëns was a master of the fantasy-transcription genre, equal to Liszt, and the extremely inventive and virtuosic fantasies on this album, on themes of Wagner, Bizet, Massenet and others, are absolutely exhilarating to perform.’ – Geoffrey Burleson
About this Recording
The eight world premiere recordings included in this programme are played from a treasure trove of unpublished manuscripts obtained by Geoffrey Burleson from the Bibliothèque national de France, each of them filled with strong and imaginative ideas. Further virtuosic rarities by Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) include a solo transcription of his exotic Africa for piano and orchestra, and fantasies on works by Beethoven, Gounod, Liszt, Bizet and others.
Fantaisie sur ’Lohengrin’ de Wagner
DE MEYERBEER (1858) * (04:59)
DE MASSENET (1895) (07:08)
TOTAL TIME: 78:10
GEOFFREY BURLESON
Geoffrey Burleson has an active career as a performing artist, and has performed in such prestigious venues as the Église St-Merri, Paris; the American Academy in Rome; the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki; the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall, Athens; the National Museum of Art, Mexico City and De Doelen, Rotterdamas well as with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Arlington and New England Philharmonics, and the Holland Symfonia. He is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, the New England Conservatory, and Stony Brook University (D.M.A.), Burleson is on the piano faculties of Princeton University and the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Centre, and is professor of music and director of piano studies at Hunter College, CUNY.
Critical acclaim for Geoffrey Burleson's Saint-Saëns series
– American Record Guide
– International Record Review
– Gramophone
– MusicWeb International
