Beauty in the shadow of conflict: Florent Schmitt’s wartime choral work Cinq motets (1914-17).

“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 […]

Beyond Debussy and Ravel: Florent Schmitt’s Ombres (1912-17)

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 […]