Musicians Beata Halska and Claudio Chaiquin talk about researching and recording French composer Florent Schmitt’s music for violin and piano.

The new NAXOS recording includes several discographic world premieres, along with the monumental Sonate libre. In mid-2015, NAXOS released a recording devoted to Florent Schmitt’s music for violin and piano. It contains several world premieres, along with the Sonate libre en deux parties enchainées, Opus 68, a half hour-long stylistically advanced tour de force composed by Schmitt […]

American violinist John McLaughlin Williams talks about the music of Florent Schmitt and the Sonate libre (1918-19).

September 16, 2014 · by Phillip Nones | in Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Bradley Pfaller, David Riley, Florent Schmitt, French Composers, Impressionism, Jean Martinon, John McLaughlin Williams, Matthew Bengtson, Schmitt, Sonata, Sonate, Sonate libre, Violin Sonata | Leave a comment

“In the 20th century, France was unusually blessed with composers who can be called ‘great’ without question or compromise. It’s arguable that they could be listed with a certain linearity. Debussy, Schmitt, Ravel, Messiaen, Dutilleux; when I think of their music it seems clear to me that they were listening to each other, and those […]

“Pure Music Masterpiece”: Florent Schmitt’s Sonate libre for Violin and Piano (1918-19).

March 16, 2014 · by Phillip Nones | in Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, French Composers, Uncategorized | tagged Aide aux musiciens mobilises, Alfred Kalisch, Alphonse Onnou, Andrew Thomson, Anne Le Bozec, Beata Halska, Benoit Duteurtre, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Claudio Chaiquin, David Riley, Desire Defauw, Edwin Evans, Florent Schmitt, French Composers, Georges Clemenceau, Ginette Doyen, Helene Collerette, Henri Dutilleux, Henri Gil-Marchex, Huseyin Sermet, Ilona Then-Bergh, Jean Fournier, John McLaughlin Williams, Jonathan Woolf, Messiaen, Michael Schafer, MusicWeb, Nones, Regis Benoit, Roland-Manuel, Schmitt, Sonata libre, Violin Sonata, Walter Willson Cobbett | 1 Comment

Within Florent Schmitt’s musical output are a half-dozen works that feature the violin. Perhaps the most significant of them is his Sonate libre, Op. 68, a work he composed in 1918-19 at Artiguemy, his country retreat in the Hautes-Pyrenees. The formal title of the music is a real mouthful: Sonate libre en deux parties enchaînées, ad modem Clementis […]