When the producer and director of the 1925 silent film of Flaubert's Salammbo asked Florent Schmitt to provide a two-hour score for it, they may well have had in mind, besides his acknowledged reputation as a creator of exotic, opulently barbaric scores (La tragedie de Salome, Les Dionysiaques and the saxophone Legende, for example), his extraordinary facility: besides his work as a critic and, for a time, director of the Lyon Conservatoire, he already had to his credit a vast output of large-scale works conceived and elaborated with the utmost seriousness and skill. Schmitt did not skimp this time or adopt short cuts like the ostinatos or plain repetitions to which less conscientious film-music composers resort (though because of the pressure of time he felt obliged to incorporate short passages from previous works of his); and he thought well enough of his score, after well-deserved oblivion had fallen on the film, to extract three orchestral suites from it. The story, of a Carthaginian priestess who falls in love with Matho, leader of the mercenaries attacking the city, who steals the sacred veil from the temple—with fatal consequences for them both—offered plenty of opportunity for colour; and the suite, recorded here, again demonstrates Schmitt's mastery in handling a very large orchestra and his imaginative creation of atmosphere.

The opening pages, depicting a silent palace, are already remarkably evocative (though you'll need to turn the volume up in order to hear them properly), and one could scarcely have more voluptuous music (with quite simple means) than the scene where Salammbo lies asleep. Both these movements are in the first suite, arguably the best of the three able to lead an independent concert existence. A chorus is employed only in the third suite: its words here are not clear and are not given, but perhaps they are not of great importance. In view of Schmitt's vivid writing (especially in the impressive musical scene of Matho's death) it is a pity that he never wrote a score for sound films except for a documentary on trains: he would have rivalled the existing masters of the genre. Meanwhile it is a matter of regret, and indeed of reproach, that none of these three sumptuous scores is in the repertoire of any of our major orchestras; but the splendid performance here by the Ile de France orchestra (founded only 20 years ago) could well act as a stimulus to their adoption. Cordially recommended to all those with an appreciation of virtuoso orchestral writing and playing.'

Lionel Salter, Gramophone 6/1994 Reviewing Accord 20359

Making his debut on Chandos, Sakari Oramo, who with the BBC Symphony Orchestra this year has championed new and rarely performed works, presents in surround sound the extravagant musical world of Florent Schmitt. The recording follows two exceptional Barbican performances with the same forces, a ‘sensuous and exotic’ Antoine et Cleopatre, according to the Financial Times (2016), and the first performance for nearly a dozen years of Symphony No. 2 (2017). The Second Symphony, the last major work by Schmitt, has nothing valedictory about it: as lavish and rhythmically sophisticated as his earlier music, emphatically bounding in fast passages and supple in slow, it also encompasses all the different musical expressions and styles that he had used over almost eight decades of composing. On the other hand, it is far from being an ‘old man’s piece.’ ‘It is really exuberant- very, very inventive, and incredibly busy for everyone,’ as Sakari Oramo explained in a BBC Radio 3 interview. The symphony is paired with the two orchestral suites from Antoine et Cleopatre, music written for Shakespeare’s play, premiered in 1920 at the Paris Opera, and very rarely recorded since then.

Florent Schmitt stands alongside Debussy and Ravel as one of the most original and influential French composers of his time. Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1900, Schmitt wrote successfully in many forms but he was a formidable pianist who described his often rich and multi-staved scores as “fistfuls of piano”. His music for the instrument is colourful, filled with adventurous harmonic innovation, stylistic bravura and good humoured wit. This complete collection for piano duo and duet includes unpublished works and rarities.

Florent Schmitt was one of the most important of all French composers, an individualist who defies the simplicities of classification. The last of this four-disc series explores Schmitt's Humoresques, Op. 43, a cycle full of unexpected and witty twists, as well as the visionary Lied et scherzo, Op. 54. His gift for characterization is always evident, not least in Trois pieces recreates, Op. 37 which is strongly spiced with humor.

Schmitt remains one of the most important and influential French composers of the 20th century. He was a formidable pianist, and his writing for the instrument is colorful, bold and harmonically dexterous. The Invencia Piano Duo has won high critical acclaim for its compelling interpretations of a vast and diverse repertoire.

Florent Schmitt life spanned both the late Romantic and 20th century eras and he counted Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel among his close friends. For most of his career he worked as a music critic and early on perceptively predicted the influence jazz would have on the future of serious music. His compositional output was comprised of a mish-mash potpourri of styles which included scores for theatre, including ballet and stage plays, including this collection of incidental music for Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic conducted by JoAnn Falletta.

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Review:

The performances are admirably stylish, while the Buffalo Philharmonic boast nicely dexterous strings and woodwind.

– Gramophone

Winner of the 1900 Prix de Rome, Florent Schmitt stands alongside Debussy and Ravel as one of the most original French composers of his time. Schmitt's piano duos and duets are second only to Schubert in number and yet few have been recorded. The masterful Invencia Piano Duo seeks a redress of these grievances in this sensual and subtle release.

Georges Schmitt - a German-French "frontier runner" The German-French composer Georg (Georges) Schmitt was born in Trier, then a Prussian city on the banks of the Moselle, in 1821. At 14 years of age, he took over the office of cathedral organist from his deceased father. In 1844, though, he moved to Paris, the hub of European music, where he remained until his death in 1900. It was there that he assumed a prestigious post in 1849, taking over at the Great Organ in the Church of Saint-Sulpice. He became very active as a composer and writer, published organ works and papers on the organ and the reform of church music and also co-founded a congress that aimed to re-establish "true" church music. Schmitt was gradually forgotten after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. The performance of a comic opera and operettas at minor theatres and his participation in national composition competitions with cantatas and great choral symphonies did not give the composer the breakthrough he hoped for. Nonetheless, he published numerous piano pieces and songs as well as theoretical and educational works. This album features just about half of Schmitt's surviving French songs. They were individually published in Paris between 1855 and 1890 and some have survived in handwritten form. All the main genres of French song from this period are represented: m�lodie, romance and chanson.

Rarely heard on recording, the songs of Florent Schmitt receive fresh exposure in this significant new survey of these neglected works including a number of world premiere recordings. The qualities that appeal in many of Schmitt’s larger works are found in abundance in this selection that spans his entire creative life: his music’s gorgeous sensuality, biting wit, laconic charm, and unleashed savagery. Pianists Fabienne Romer and Edward Rushton along with an outstanding lineup of soloists, explore this rich seam of complex compositional techniques, revealing a composer of extraordinary individuality along with a fascinating affinity with the darker side of human existence.

Spearheading the young generation in Lorraine, international icon Samson Schmitt is one of the most eminent gypsy guitarists of today, Samson has had music in his blood since birth, and it shows. His universe reflects the very essence of gypsy jazz: music anchored by deep roots, profoundly human and altruistic, yet modern and in perfect tune with its times. The guitarist’s characteristic imprint lies as much in the aerial virtuosity of his phrasing and generous compositions as it does in the way he shares those qualities with the accompanists featured alongside him, including such unavoidable figures as Gino Roman, Mayo Hubert and Ludovic Beier. Augustin BONDOUX

SCHMITT: Tragedie de Salome (La)

Florent Schmitt was a student of Massenet and Fauré, and winner of the coveted Prix de Rome. His impressionistic style blends influences ranging from Debussy to Wagner, with references to Stravinsky and other contemporaries. Conceived as a ballet but revised as a symphonic poem, La Tragédie de Salomé depicts Salome’s dangerous seductiveness with subtle magnificence. Narrative symbolism also applies to the evocative word painting of the exquisite Musique sur l’eau. The perilous saga of Oriane et le Prince d’Amour contrasts with the poetic tapestry of orchestral colors in Légende, in a version that replaces the original solo saxophone with violin.

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REVIEW:

Although Florent Schmitt lived until 1958 and took an interest in musical trends of the day, his fundamental style never really changed. It tightened up a bit under the influence of Stravinsky but remained essentially late Romantic. JoAnn Falletta has been an unfailingly successful advocate of Schmitt's on disc. There are quite a few versions of La tragédie de Salomé available, but none more refined and silky than this one. The Buffalo Philharmonic is a polished orchestra and has a wonderful satin feel for French music. The smooth acoustic of Kleinhans Hall and Naxos’s customary transparency do the rest.

All told, this is a winning release. In the vanishing wake of dodecaphonic music, where process was everything, we seem to be rediscovering beauty and meaning in composers who were, so to speak, left behind. More power, then, to Florent Schmitt!

– Fanfare

In 1907, Florent Schmitt composed music to accompany a ‘mimodrame’ danced by Loïe Fuller, La Tragédie de Salomé. His score is bursting with colour, energy, and voluptuousness – and also with oriental influences stemming from his travels to Morocco and Constantinople, where he discovered the howling dervishes. The final scene features the heart-rending ‘Chant d’Aïça’, an oriental melody sung by a soprano. This music, though bold and modern for the listeners of 1907, nonetheless aroused the admiration of another composer, Igor Stravinsky, to whom Schmitt dedicated the Symphonic Suite he subsequently derived from the work. However, Alain Altinoglu, at the helm of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra of which he has been Music Director since 2021, has chosen to record the original version of this landmark of early twentieth-century French music. The beautiful Chant élégiaque, in its 1911 version for cello and large orchestra, completes this programme.

Julien Masmondet and Les Apaches present Florent Schmitt's La Tragédie de Salomé in a new light by revisiting its original 1907 version, augmented by Fabien Touchard’s creations in homage to Loïe Fuller, the artist who then embodied the modernity of Salomé. At the crossroads of dance, poetry and music, they pay tribute to this masterpiece of orchestration by elaborating together a new type of show, captured by b•records at the Théatre de l'Athénée Louis-Jouvet.

Florent Schmitt was one of the most original French composers of his generation, and his chamber music shows him at his most personal. The Quatre Pièces, Op. 25 are evocatively lyrical while the Scherzo vif brims with intricate but fiery virtuosity. The Sonate libre, Op. 68 remains one of his most admired works, a bold diptych with lyric rhapsody at its core but one that also evokes the tragedies of the First World War. The late masterpiece Habeyssé, Op. 110 reveals the explosive power and subtle poetry of Schmitt’s imagination.