A journey into Florent Schmitt’s Symphonie concertante (1932): Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier analyzes the incredible tour de force for orchestra with piano.

January 1, 2026 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, French Composers, Piano Music | tagged BBC Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Florent Schmitt, Grace May Stutsman, Lionel Salter, Peter Donohoe, Schmitt, Schoenberg, Serge Koussevitzky, Symphonie Concertante, Tomoki Sakata | 3 Comments

“I’d never before seen a score as mind-blowing as the Symphonie concertante …” — Yan Pascal Tortelier, Conductor Emeritus, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra In late October 2025, veteran director Yan Pascal Tortelier, joined by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of which he is the conductor emeritus, as well as pianist Peter Donohoe, recorded a program for Chandos […]

“Courtly and polite, mixed with humor and sarcasm”: Florent Schmitt sits for an interview with Le Guide du concert magazine (1929).

February 14, 2023 · by Phillip Nones | in Composers, French Composers | tagged André Caplet, Andre Perchicot, Cesar Franck, Chabrier, Cyril Plante, Dukas, Faure, Florent Schmitt, Gedalge, Honegger, Lavignac, Le Guide du Concert, Madame de Saint-Marceaux, Nicolas Horvath, Paul Bigot, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, Prix de Rome, Schmitt, Schoenberg, Sebastien Damarey, Steven Kruger, Stravinsky, Triton Chamber Music Society | 2 Comments

Several months ago Sébastien Damarey, a faithful reader of the Florent Schmitt Website + Blog, sent me a very interesting historical artifact — an interview with Florent Schmitt that was published in the January 25, 1929 issue of the French arts magazine Le Guide du concert et des théâtres lyriques. What makes this article particularly […]

Musicologist Suddhaseel Sen talks about the artistry of Florent Schmitt and the importance of his “orientalist” compositions.

August 15, 2017 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Albert Roussel, Balzan Research Project, Bibliotheque Nationale, Chabrier, Dutilleux, Edward Said, ESRA Congress, European Shakespeare Research Association, Florent Schmitt, French Composers, Herodiade, Honegger, La Sulamite, Lionel Salter, Mediatheque Musicale Mahler, Messiaen, Naresh Sohal, Orientalism, Padmavati, Rabindranath Tagore, Reinhard Strohm, Schmitt, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Suddhaseel Sen, Villa-Lobos | 3 Comments

Musicologist, author and teacher Suddhaseel Sen comes to his appreciation of Western classical music from an interesting angle. A native of the Indian subcontinent, Dr. Sen made his first musical discoveries there, long before coming to the West for a range of music-related studies and research. Today, Dr. Sen is back in India as Assistant Professor of Humanities […]