Inspired by Liszt, to whose memory the work is dedicated, Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 is ground-breaking in its inclusion of organ and piano. For the composer this represented 'the progress made in modern instrumentation' and the result is a work both spectacular and grandiose. By contrast the Symphony in A, his first completed symphony, is a youthful piece, fully revealing his admiration for Mozart, whilst Le rouet d'Omphale, dating from the 1870s, is an impressively atmospheric tone poem. Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 are available on 8.573138.

The Organ symphony (No.3) is one of Saint-Saëns' most recorded and loved works. By contrast the early Symphony in A is little known. BIS956 has Jean-Jacques Kantorow conducting this little-recorded work on an all-Saint-Saëns disc coupled with the two cello concertos and the unfamiliar Romance, Op.36 in a disc released back in 1999. Otherwise the best-known recording is the venerable one by Jean Martinon with the ORTF Orchestra with the three numbered symphonies and Symphony 'Urbs Roma' on EMI or reissued on Brilliant - both 2 CD sets released in 2012. Le rouet d'Omphale is much more often recorded than the early Symphony - Martinon, Beecham, Bernstein, as well as Charles Dutoit and Neeme Jäarvi have recorded it.