Renaud Toccata en Re mineur

[@grahamtwist]

I gather Albert Félix Joseph Renaud (1855 - 1924) studied at the Conservatoire de Paris under César Franck, Camille Saint-Saens, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet, and that he began his career by succeeding his father as choirmaster of Saint-Sulpice. For thirty-three years, he was organist at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, overseeing the refurbishment in 1903 of the church's Cavaillé-Coll organ, marking the completion of the work with a concert at which Alexandre Guilmant and Eugène Gigout also played! This Toccata is his best known work and was dedicated to Alexandre Guilmant. Guilmant played it during a recital at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, though I doubt he played it any better than you, David, in this splendid recording. Many congratulations - and also to the page-turner: bravo!

[@davidgarner6174]

Thank you Graham for your kind feedback! I found this lurking when I was having a clearout of my YT videos - I had set it as private awaiting making a better recording later, which never happened! So thought i might as well just make it public. I think Renaud was a "one hit wonder"!