"...I am pleased to give it a warm recommendation, particularly for the two rarities." Graham Williams, SA-CD.net
"The works all get very good performances and recordings...the Choruses are splendid, as is the LPO on top form. This is a very worthwhile CD."
Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review.
The Messe de Requiem
occupies a special place in Saint-Saëns's religious works. Composed in
only eight days, it does not follow the dramatic treatments of Berlioz or Verdi
but is more allied to Fauré's devotional style. Indeed it became almost
premonitional, as his two children died within weeks of the premiere in Switzerland.
In constast to the pain contained in the Requiem is the overt joy of
the hugely popular Organ Symphony, in which Saint-Saëns "gave
all that he had to give" to produce one of the landmarks of the Romantic
symphonic genre.