Not a new recording by any means, but certainly a classic:
http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/category/197/ (http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/category/197/)
It sounds marvelous, as you would expect from this source, and with great recordings of Psalm 47 and La Tragedie de Salome not exactly thick on the ground, pretty much self-recommending (though I'll recommend it anyway.)
David
I am a huge advocate for Florent Schmitt's music. Sadly, not all that much is available on CD. I recommend the colourful score Schmitt wrote for the 1925 silent film Salammbô, available on RCA Red Seal.
And anyone who enjoys the above,don't hesitate at obtaining a copy of the wonderful sumptuously recorded Timpani cd of Schmitt's equally exotic & exciting 'Antoine et Cleopatre'. My favourite of the three cited above,actually.
Also,the Schmitt 'Sinfonie Concertante',(Auvidis Valois),if you can still buy it,at an affordable price! (They keep deleting these things).
His Symphony No 2,recorded on the Marco Polo,is a late work & be warned,it is in a more astringent style. Personally,I don't like it,but someone else might!
His neglect,like that of Charles Koechlin,is rather strange.
Also recommended,the fabulous symphonies of Charles Tournemire,but they realy DO need better recordings. (The Auvidis Valois are quite good,the Marco Polo recordings are merely 'doofers' until something allot better comes along. And that's being polite! ).
Quote from: Pengelli on Tuesday 25 January 2011, 15:16
His Symphony No 2,recorded on the Marco Polo,is a late work & be warned,it is in a more astringent style. Personally,I don't like it,but someone else might!
I quite like the Second Symphony - and I think you're being perhaps a little harsh about the recording :o
There is a whole swathe of French composers of this time who are not recognised properly, having been eclipsed by Debussy and Ravel:
Louis Aubert
André Caplet
Paul le Flem
Albéric Magnard
Albert Roussel (to an extent)
Charles Tournemire
Max d'Ollone
The recording and performance of the Schmitt is fine,I was referring to the Symphony itself. I wasn't criticising it, I just think that some people who have enjoyed 'Salammbo' and 'Salome' might expect something in a similair vein. The poor recordings are the Marco Polo Tournemire's. I keep badgering Chandos about them,but they're either uninterested or have too many projects lined up. Maybe Timpani might get round to them, eventually. I have all the Auvid Valois recordings,which are much better. Such a pity they didn't do more. No 2 is a particularly lovely work. Marco Polo did quite a good job of 3 & 8,though.
As you say,there is so much more to French music than Ravel & Debussy.
Quote from: Pengelli on Tuesday 25 January 2011, 17:41
The poor recordings are the Marco Polo Tournemire's.
Ahh - the Tournemires. I have to agree the performances are a little scrappy. There's a rather better one of Symphony No 6 on Valois.
Quote from: Delicious Manager on Tuesday 25 January 2011, 15:25
There is a whole swathe of French composers of this time who are not recognised properly, having been eclipsed by Debussy and Ravel:
Louis Aubert
André Caplet
Paul le Flem
Albéric Magnard
Albert Roussel (to an extent)
Charles Tournemire
Max d'Ollone
Of these, d'Ollone - principally a stage composer - is almost unknown today although there are now a few recordings, Aubert fares hardly any better, Caplet is known for only a very few works and Tournemire is almost certainly more familiar to the organ fraternity than to others; Magnard's works may still be under-represented in the concert hall but are now mostly recorded and his reputation has certainly risen considerably in recent years, the long-lived le Flem is particularly deserving of greater attention (try the last of his four symphonies, written when he was several years older than Schmitt was when he composed his second), but Roussel has surely always maintained a decent profile among the French composers of the first half of the previous century, notwithstanding the fact that he's never been regarded as up there with Debussy and Ravel.
I remember very interesting review(s) of a recording or two of d'Ollone's music (possibly, given the time frame in which I likely read it, either the 1999 chamber music CD on Pierre Verany or the 2003 orchestral music CD on Claves. Some of this music - the piano trio and string quartet - has landed in score or parts at IMSLP (http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Ollone,_Max_d').
Eric
There's an interesting clarinet piece by d'Ollone called Fantaisie Orientale, available on this fantastic set: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=2661&name_role1=1&bcorder=1&comp_id=195308
Several other works by Schmitt have been recorded.
I own:
-The complete original version of "La tragedie de Salomè" lasting just a full hour (Davin, Marco Polo).
-Sonate Libre for violin and piano op.96
-Trois rapsodies op.53 for two pianos
-Hasards op. 96 for piano,vn.,v.la,vc. (R.e B.Pasquier, Sermet, Paik) VALOIS V 4679
-Oriane et le Prince d'amour (ballet)
-In memoriam
-Ronde Burlesque
-Legende for viola and orch. CYBELIA CY 816 (label disappered, sometimes - but not Schmitt-recycled by Naxos for France "Patrimoine" series)
-Andante religioso
- Suite sans esprit de suite op.89
-Soirs
-Fonctionnaire 1912 (all for ochestra) CYBELIA CY 869 (as above)
Schmitt hasn't done too badly, I agree- and now I think I see a new recording of his substantial piano quintet is coming out.
The Hyperion recording of Psalm 47 (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67599 (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67599)) is the one that I find most satisfying - and the only one in which the sopranos don't sound as though they've gone way beyond their sell-by date. What a glorious piece this is - wave after wave of excitement - frappez des mains indeed!
And don't forget the marvellous,spectacularly recorded & performed Timpani release of Schmitt's underrated blockbuster, 'Antoine et Cleopatre'. Hopefully Timpani might eventually get around to one of my favourite symphony cycles,the Charles Tournemire eight. (As forum users MAY have noticed I'm a bit of a fan).
That Timpani disc is a stunner. As regarding Tournemire, do consider that seveal of his symphonies are also included in the 50 CD anniversary box of the Liege orchestra on Cypres.
Erato published a 2-CD "anthology" of SChmitt's music a few years ago. The first CD had La Tragédie and Psalm 47 played by the Radio France Philharmonic & Choirs under Janowski, while the second had the rarely heard Janiana symphony (Jean-François Paillard Orchestra under same), the Suite en Rocaille (Marie-Claire Jamet Quintet) and Lied et Scherzo, op. 54 (Del Vescovo, Hubeau).
There's a new Chandos release of Schmitt's music. I bought it for three reasons: Salome (love this music), it's and SACD, and the Tortelier has always been an exciting conductor. I won't be discarding my Janowski any time soon, but if you like Schmitt this disk is certainly worth you attention.
I downloaded Schmitt's Quintet coupled with Hasards from iTunes store, good execution, pianist Christian Ivaldi.
I have also an excellent version of the Magnard violin sonata coupled with Franck Sonata (Dumay-Collard).
Andrea
QuoteThe Hyperion recording of Psalm 47 (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67599) is the one that I find most satisfying - and the only one in which the sopranos don't sound as though they've gone way beyond their sell-by date. What a glorious piece this is - wave after wave of excitement - frappez des mains indeed!
Agreed! While the Martinon disc is still a sentimental favorite (I wore out my LP copy when it was initially released on Angel in the early 1970s), the Fischer is magnificent in every way.
Quote from: Delicious Manager on Tuesday 25 January 2011, 15:25
Quote from: Pengelli on Tuesday 25 January 2011, 15:16
His Symphony No 2,recorded on the Marco Polo,is a late work & be warned,it is in a more astringent style. Personally,I don't like it,but someone else might!
I quite like the Second Symphony - and I think you're being perhaps a little harsh about the recording :o
There is a whole swathe of French composers of this time who are not recognised properly, having been eclipsed by Debussy and Ravel:
Louis Aubert
André Caplet
Paul le Flem
Albéric Magnard
Albert Roussel (to an extent)
Charles Tournemire
Max d'Ollone
do you know Leòn Reinach?
He was a jewish french composer, died in Auschwitz in 1944. He left a sonata for violin and piano (Senart 1925)
Andrea
A friend of mine just told me about this discussion topic, so I'm coming to the party a tad late. I have some very good news to report in the way of new recordings of Florent Schmitt that are newly issued, or are in the works for the coming year.
Just last week, Forgotten Records, a French-based print-on-demand CD label, issued Schmitt's complete ballet "Oriane et le Prince d'Amour" (1933) -- 1956 broadcast performance by the ORTF Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Pierre Dervaux. This piece has never been commercially recorded (the suite has -- just once, and is long out-of-print), but the complete ballet is more than twice the music (nearly an hour). I've heard from a friend in Europe that the recording quality is very good. The "filler" item on this disk is a 1960 concert performance of the Symphony #2, Schmitt's penultimate work (1957), with Jean Martinon and the ORTF Orchestra. Again, I've heard that the performance is mighty fine. I have ordered my copy of the CD but it hasn't arrived in the mail yet.
I notice that several people have praised the Timpani recording of Schmitt's "Antoine et Cleopatre" Suites. In February, the same label and performers released the premiere recordings of Schmitt's ballet "Le Petit elfe ferme-l'oeil" (1923), a 45-minute work that's the most glitteringly brilliant ballet music you could ever hope to hear. The filler item is another super piece called "Introit, recit et conge" (1949), played with tremendous vigor and passion by French cellist Henri Demarquette. (Man, I wish that man would come to the U.S. to perform; we're the only continent besides Antarctica that hasn't seen him in concert yet.)
Other interesting news is that JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing and recording the "Antoine et Cleopatre" suites, along with "Le Palais hante" (1904) in early 2015. You can read up on the program dates and ticket information on the BPO website (www.bpo.org), for those who may wish to see an actual live performance of Schmitt's music (pretty rare here in the U.S.). I know I'll be there.
Speaking personally, Florent Schmitt's music has been a particular passion of mine for decades, and in 2012 I began a blog devoted to the composer and his music. So far, I've published around 60 articles on various pieces of music, performers (including some interviews), links to music clips and so forth. Many of the works cited above have been profiled in individual posts. For those interested in learning more about this fascinating composer, including some of his lesser-known compositions, I invite you to check out the blog at http://florentschmitt.com. You can use the search button on the landing page to search for any specific work, performer, and so on. I hope you'll find it an interesting and helpful resource.
this forum could be joined to an early one about Florent Schmitt, in which many thinks said already occur :-)
If you have a good stereo and don't already have a favorite performance (or even if you do), you might want to check out the Sao Paolo SO under Tortelier. They do a bang-up job with Salomé , Psalm 47, and The Haunted Palace on Chandos.