Florent Schmitt - Works for Piano Duet and Duo Vol. 3 (The Invencia Piano Duo)

Information

Composer: Florent Schmitt

• (01) Marche du 163e R.I., Op. 48, No. 2
• (02) Feuillets de voyage, Op. 26
• (12) Musiques foraines, Op. 22

The Invencia Piano Duo
Andrey Kasparov, piano
Oksana Lutsyshyn, piano

Date: 2013
Label: Grand Piano
https://www.grandpianorecords.com/Album/AlbumDetails/GP623

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Review

If, like me, you’re more familiar with orchestral/choral Schmitt - the grand Psaume 47 and La Tragédie de Salomé - now is your chance to hear him on a more intimate scale. Byzantion welcomed this and the first two volumes of Invencia’s projected four-part series (review of Volume 1) (review of Volumes 2 & 3), and his comments certainly whetted my appetite for this repertoire. Ukrainian-born pianists Andrey Kasparov and Oksana Lutsyshyn are new to me, but their biography suggest they are a most accomplished pair; as for the music it’s relatively early Schmitt, yet it always emerges fully formed.

The Marche du 163e R.I., originally written for military band, is a bright, crystalline creation crisply played and well recorded. From the outset this duo impress with their lucidity, fine rhythmic sense and subtle control of dynamics. For those curious as to the provenance of this music it suggests Debussy and Ravel, although it falls somewhere between the soft outlines of the former and the harder edges of the latter. Those who enjoy Koechlin - Les heures persanes, for instance - will feel at home here; indeed, he and Schmitt occupied similar places on the fringes of French music at the time, and in that respect there’s something refreshingly individual about the styles of both.

Albums of one kind or another are a familiar part of the Romantic canon, and Schmitt’s two sets of ‘travel pages’ are perfectly shaped, beguiling miniatures; from the butterfly fibrillations of Sérénade and the air of contentment in Douceur du soir (Balmy evening) to the emphatic little Danse britannique this talented twosome are always alive to Schmitt’s eye-twinkling sensibilities. Book II is no less enchanting; the gently shifting harmonies of the Berceuse are adroitly done, and the Mazurka is despatched with supreme elegance and a wonderful control of touch. Even the Marche burlesque is a model of good taste - it’s a music-hall-meets-salon piece that never strays too far in either direction - as is the giddy little Valse.

Indeed there’s a balance, an equanimity, in this music that I find very attractive, and the deliciously refined playing and sonics add immensely to that sense of well-being. As for Musiques foraines it sheds light on the slightly sinister, half-lit world of carnival fun and freakery. That said, Schmitt is sparing with the greasepaint and grotesquerie; Boniment de clowns (Tale of Clowns) has more than a hint of wistful charm and the beautiful belly dancer Fatima’s features are most sympathetically drawn. The music of those wise elephants, the fortune teller and the wooden horses is notable for its economy of means and aptness of character, all which is recreated with disarming ease.

Such is the unfailing engagement and artistry of this music and these musicians that I can’t wait to hear the other discs in the series. The succinct liner-notes, use of up-to-date fonts and artwork and fine piano sound complete a terrific package.

Enchanting repertoire, sensitively played and recorded; a must for all pianophiles.

-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/June13/Schmitt_vols2_3_GP622-3.htm
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=GP623&languageid=EN#94855
https://www.amazon.com/Schmitt-Complete-Original-Works-Piano/dp/B00BGB3YNM

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Florent Schmitt (28 September 1870 – 17 August 1958) was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. At the age of 19 he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Théodore Dubois, and Albert Lavignac. Schmitt wrote 138 works with opus numbers, in most of the major forms of music, except for opera. His most famous pieces are La tragédie de Salome and Psaume XLVII (Psalm 47). His own style, recognizably impressionistic, owed to the example of Debussy, and also had distinct traces of Wagner and Richard Strauss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florent_Schmitt

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The Invencia Piano Duo has won high critical acclaim for its compelling interpretations of a vast and diverse repertoire. Andrey Kasparov and Oksana Lutsyshyn were educated at the Moscow State Conservatory before moving to Indiana University’s School of Music in Bloomington to pursue advanced studies. Kasparov and Lutsyshyn are recipients of prestigious awards and critically acclaimed recording artists. In addition to his career as a pianist, Kasparov is an active composer whose works have been published. They presently serve on the faculty at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
https://www.grandpianorecords.com/Artist/ArtistDetails/97918
https://invenciaduo.wordpress.com/

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