This album features the world premiere recording of Florent Schmitt's own piano version of La Tragédie de Salomé.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Schmitt's music is difficult to categorize, as he reinvented himself with each work, drawing from impressionism, expressionism, neo-Romanticism, and even Satie-like humor.
Composer Biography
Schmitt was a co-founder of the Société de Musique indépendante, alongside other notable composers like Ravel, Koechlin, Fauré, and Roger-Ducasse.
Composer Biography
Florent Schmitt, the composer, was born during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and studied at the Paris Conservatoire with teachers like Massenet and Fauré.
Composition History
La Tragédie de Salomé was originally a ballet score for reduced orchestra, first performed in 1907, and later revised by Schmitt into a shorter version for full orchestra and a piano score.
Critical Reception
Igor Stravinsky, to whom La Tragédie de Salomé was dedicated, praised it as "one of the greatest masterpieces in modern music."
Compositional Technique
A distinctive rhythmic motif (dotted quaver - two demisemiquavers) appears like a signature in La Tragédie de Salomé and other works by Schmitt, including Ombres and Mirages.
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