For his newest Florent Schmitt Chandos recording (scheduled for release in October 2026), when French conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier was considering contemporaneous compositions to pair with Schmitt’s strikingly modern Symphonie concertante (1931-32), one of his choices might seem curious: Çançunik, Op. 79, dating from 1927-29. Compared to the Symphonie concertante – and indeed to several […]
Tag Archives: Robert Dezarnaux
“We shortchange Florent Schmitt if we don’t admire in him, along with his formidable power, that quivering sensitivity to which we owe some of the most moving pages of contemporary music.” — Louis Aubert, French composer and critic Ask people who are familiar with the music of Florent Schmitt, and they’ll typically identify him with […]
Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit is justly recognized as that composer’s most towering achievement in piano keyboard writing. Composed in 1908, this set of three pieces (Ondine, Le Gibet, Scarbo) which take their inspiration from a book by Aloysius Bertrand, are the most technically demanding and revolutionary of Ravel’s piano works. Far less well-known but equally […]