The eight recordings included in this program are played from a set of unpublished manuscripts obtained by pianist Geoffrey Burleson from the Bibliotheque nationale de France, each of them filled with strong and imaginative ideas.
Further virtuosic rarities by Saint-Saens include a solo transcription of his exotic Africa for piano and orchestra, and fantasies on works by Beethoven, Gounod, Liszt, Bizet, and others.
Geoffrey Burleson has an active career as a performing artist, and has performed in such prestigious venues as the Eglise St-Merri, Paris; the American Academy in Rome; the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki; the Dimitri Mitropoulos Hall, Athens; the National Museum of Art, Mexico City and De Doelen, Rotterdamas as well as with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Arlington and New England Philharmonics, and the Holland Symfonia.
Here is Mr. Burleson in the Etude Op. 52 by Saint-Saens:
