Canonne, Clement
Florent Schmitt: Scenes De La Vie Moyenne
Despite being slightly forgotten nowadays, Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) remains one of the most important French composers from the first half of the 20th century, mostly known for his large-scale orchestral works such as La Tragdie de Salom, Antoine et Clopâtre, or Psaume XLVII. But Florent Schmitt has also composed, until his very last years, many piano and chamber works that reveal a more intimate - and often full of humor - side. Scènes de la Vie Moyenne and other late piano works presents three compositions - never commercially recorded before - from the late 1940s and early 1950s - a time at which Florent Schmitt was at the height of his artistry and produced numerous highly idiosyncratic works. This new CD includes: Clavecin Obtemprant (1946), the newly-discovered Piano Sonata (1950), as well as Schmitts own virtuoso piano transcription of his orchestral Scènes de la Vie Moyenne (1952). The three works have been recorded by Clment Canonne - a musician and researcher at IRCAM (Paris). Beyond the recording itself, the CD also includes a booklet with three full-length essays which shed new light on Florent Schmitt, by investigating, respectively, his relationship to piano composition, the reception of his work in the post-WWII context, and the humorous content of his works.