Florent Schmitt’s Trois danses (1935/39) gets its moment in the sun at last.

After decades of obscurity, suddenly both the piano and orchestral versions of Schmitt’s suite receive new recordings – as well as renewed attention from performers.

In the 1930s, Florent Schmitt was arguably at the peak of his creative powers. It was a decade that saw a prodigious amount of music come from the composer’s pen – and  the compositions were works of manifestly inspired conception.

Midway through the decade, Schmitt brought out the piano version of Trois danses, Op. 86, in which he explored dance styles from earlier times. The three movements of this suite – each of them dedicated to a noted French pianist of the time – are as follows:

I.  Montferrine: Subtitled Bourrée lombarde, this movement is based on a folk dance style from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, a dance which likely originated in the second half of the 18th century. The monferrina is a three-part dance similar to a tarantella. Schmitt dedicated this first movement of the Trois danses to pianist Marguerite Long (1874-1966).

II.  Bocane: This number is named after a social dance of the early Baroque period. It is similar in form to a courante. Interestingly, the inventor of the bocane was Jacques Cordier, a dancing master to Queen Anne of Austria and other European noblewomen. In addition to the bocane, Cordier is credited with creating the pavane dance style. Florent Schmitt dedicated this movement of the suite to pianist Lucette Descaves (1906-1993).

III.  Danse de corde:  The final movement of Trois danses translates roughly from French to English as a “rope dance.” It has the feel of a passepied, a brisk minuet popular in the 17th and 18th centuries but with considerably more “bite.” Schmitt dedicated this final movement of the suite to pianist Hélène Pignari.

The first performance of Trois danses happened in March 1936 at a Société nationale de musique concert, where it was played by Hélène Pignari. Several months later the work was featured at a reception given in Florent Schmitt’s honor (held at Marguerite Long’s home), in which the three movements of Trois danses were played successively by Pauline Gordon, Lucette Descaves and Hélène Pignari.

In the years following its composition, the Trois danses would be among the most often-performed solo piano pieces by Florent Schmitt. In addition to performances presented by the work’s dedicatees, notable pianists including Lucette Descaves and Georges Pludermacher had their performances of the suite broadcast over French Radio.

Françoise Gobet was another pianist whose performance of Trois danses was broadcast by Radio-France — and it was she  who would also make the first commercial recording of the music in 1957 (released on the Véga label and today available on CD from Forgotten Records).

Interest in Trois danses waned in the decades that followed – such that during the past half-century the work was very rarely heard, even in France.

But circumstances began to change in the past decade. In 2018, Catalan pianist Joan-Ramon Company Tormo uploaded an idiomatic performance of the Bocane movement to YouTube, generating significant interest from viewers.

Then in the years 2023-25, American pianist Matthew Bengtson included the complete suite in a series of recitals he gave across North America. Explaining his interest in programming the Trois danses, pianist Bengtson notes:

“From [the early twentieth century, one] can encounter the most creative use of harmony, freewheeling imagination, the strong individuality of composers, and the notion of endless possibilities. There are also fascinating contrasts between the composers of different nationalities who created dynamic, virtuosic scores — as well as the feeling of looking both forward and backward in history. You experience all of this in Florent Schmitt.”

And this bring us forward to 2026, when the news is even better on the recording front. A new commercial recording of Trois danses has just been made by French pianist Clément Canonne, and this recording is set for release on the Urborigène label in late 2026 or early 2027. It’s a milestone recording in that it is the first one made since Françoise Gobet’s premiere recording appeared in 1957.

… And that’s not all.  In really stunning news, the first-ever recording of Schmitt’s orchestrated version of the suite is on deck for release in October 2026 by Chandos Records. This premiere recording features the noted French conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier leading the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in music that hasn’t been heard in its orchestral form in more than eight decades.

To understand the reason for the many years of silence, a little history is in order. The orchestral version of Trois danses had the misfortune of being premiered in Paris in January 1939, mere months before the outbreak of World War II. Due to this armed conflict that completely upended the arts in France – and nearly everywhere else in Europe for that matter – the Trois danses had essentially no opportunity to be taken up by other orchestras in France or abroad following its 1939 premiere.

And then … by the time the war ended in 1945, instead of being considered fresh and new, the Trois danses score was more apt to be viewed as a throwback to a bygone era – particularly at a time when classical music was quickly becoming more radical, not only in postwar Paris but in the rest of Europe and the United States as well.

In essence, the orchestrated Trois danses was a piece that never had the opportunity to get off the ground – instead being stunted in its infancy. The orchestral score remained in manuscript form, never being typeset by Schmitt’s publisher Durand. While the manuscript full score and instrumental parts were theoretically available for study and rental, in practice they languished on the shelves at Durand, unknown and unheard, for nearly ninety years.

But with renewed interest in Florent Schmitt’s music growing since the start of the 21^st century, a score like the orchestrated Trois danses was bound to be rediscovered, reevaluated and appreciated for the masterful composition that it is.

That was certainly the case with Yan Pascal Tortelier, who quickly came to realize that this was a hidden musical gem that needed to be shared with the world.

I was privileged to have the opportunity to attend the BBC Philharmonic’s Trois danses recording session that was held at the Dock●10 venue in Manchester, UK on October 31, 2025. I can personally attest to how impressive the suite is; the music glistens and gleams throughout.

As a follow-up to the Trois danses recording session, I asked Maestro Tortelier to share his perspectives on the three movements that make up the suite. Generously, he responded by providing the analysis presented below:

Notes on Florent Schmitt’s Trois danses

By:  Yan Pascal Tortelier

The point in orchestrating piano music is that, when appropriate and of course adequately done (as is obviously the case in these three dances), choosing from among a whole array of instruments the ones that are best-suited to express organically the character, sense and feeling of the music (just think of the instrumentation of Peter and the Wolf!), the orchestration can be of tremendous advantage in enhancing the musical discourse.

Indeed, as beautiful as piano music may be, the piano remains by definition a mechanical instrument, using its hammers to strike notes and chords via the strings. Pianists everywhere will admit to the instrument’s inability to “drive” a sound once emitted. But thank goodness this doesn’t preclude “interpretation” as such, and the piano is certainly the most universally played and loved of all instruments.

On the other hand, a symphony orchestra can offer the most varied and luxurious sound in the world, with a myriad of different sonorities and colors capable of matching the innumerable meanings, sentiments and descriptive aspects of the music. In this regard, I’m reminded of a comment that Richard Strauss once made to my cellist father: “A composer should be able to depict anything in music – even a toothbrush!”

Of course there are no toothbrushes in Florent Schmitt’s Trois Danses, but never mind — the work is a triptyque so full of character and originality that I felt immediately and irresistibly drawn to it.

Moreover, on a familial note I strongly suspect that my grandfather, who was a member of the violin section in the Orchestre Colonne in 1939, actually played under Paul Paray at the premiere performance of Trois danses in Paris that year.

I.  Montferrine

The first dance «MONTFERRINE» is dedicated to the pianist Marguerite Long. Designated as a bourrée from the Lombard region rather than from the Auvergne (think of Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne), the dance is clearly of an alert character but with some confusing metrics at times.

The convention stipulating that the bourrée can be played in either two or three beats, Schmitt opts for a ternary pulse in the first theme, and alternates with a rather improbable but exciting five beats in the subsequent theme, perhaps with the intention of combining the three- and two-beats together.  It’s a bit of a play on metrics.

This first danse is as short in duration as it is fun to enjoy. Just listen to the light woodwinds in charge of the playful first motif, strings in charge of the second motif, with the grotesque intervention of fortissimo brass and percussion!

II.  Bocane

The second dance «BOCANE» is dedicated to the pianist Lucette Descaves. The title refers to Jacques Cordier, a distinguished violinist of the seventeenth century who became a famous ballet master, first under the reign of Charles I. Cordier then taught ballet dance to several grandes dames, including Henriette Marie de France, Anne d’Autriche and Elisabeth de Bourbon.

Cordier was the inventor of this style of dance, and because he was curiously nicknamed “Bocan,” that name was applied to the dance and turned into «BOCANE» (the word “dance” being a feminine term in French).

This might well be my favorite of the three danses in the suite. Ingeniously placed in the middle position, its slow sarabande- or chaconne-like music showcases the horns of the orchestra (along with muted trumpets) in all of their noble beauty. The recurring melody is tinged with a nocturnal eloquence which, after a short central buildup, reaches a surprising – even heartbreaking—Fauréan cadenza. The composer then takes us back to the recapitulation via some superbly harmonic touches, leading to a gorgeous B-flat major ending.

III.  Danse de corde

The last dance in the set «DANSE de CORDE« (Rope Dance) is dedicated to the pianist Hélène Pignari. Built around two very contrasting themes, the Danse de corde is even more rustic and folkloric than the opening Montferrine, and here Florent Schmitt is juggling tonalities with all the effectiveness of a master magician or illusionist. This is not at all surprising for a composer who, when asked what he thought of Ravel’s Boléro, said in wry response, “J’attends la modulation …” (“I keep waiting for the modulation …”).

Beginning with typically strident chords, the music cascades into a most bouncy rustic tune, this time in a definitive binary rhythm. It’s a tune that moves straightaway from pizzicati to horns and clarinets, all along to an incredible fanfare-like burst of brass and percussion (likely suggesting the big leaps by the dancers over the rope). These two highly contrasted aspects of the music are repeated several times, whereupon a rather parodic fugato begins on the tuba that brings us inexorably to a circus-like climax.

Truly, it’s a dance that reflects the composer’s wit and imagination so brilliantly, it precludes any further comment!

________________________

Both upcoming recordings of Florent Schmitt’s Trois danses – Clément Canonne’s piano version and Yan Pascal Tortelier’s orchestral version – promise to be important new additions to the discography of Florent Schmitt.

Details about the planned release dates will be provided just as soon as the information is announced.