Schmitt: Symphony No.2 etc
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FLORENT SCHMITT
Schmitt: Symphony No.2 etc
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo (conductor)
[ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD ]
Release Date: Friday 11 May 2018
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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 Cléopâtre , 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 i t: a s 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 f rom being an 'old man's piece'. ' It is really exuberant - very, very inventive, an d incredibly busy for everyone', as Sakari Oramo explain ed in a BBC Radio 3 interview.
The symphony is paired with the two orchestral suites from Antoine et Cléopâtre , music written for Shakespeare's play , premiered in 1920 at the Paris Opéra, and very rarely recorded since then.
"The sultry, mysterious textures…are evocatively conjured by Oramo and the BBC Symphony players. Feverish, bacchanalian energies are unleashed in 'Orgie et Danses'…[in the Symphony] Oramo does an especially fine job stitching a narrative thread together from the multiple shifts of mood and perspective…For the Symphony in particular, this splendidly recorded disc is worth investigating, especially if you know little or none of Schmitt's music." BBC Music
"In this BBC Symphony Orchestra performance, conducted by Sakari Oramo and recorded with characteristic opulence by Chandos, the work comes across as an enjoyable indulgent orchestral showpiece- full of incident and variety. Schmitt's ingratiating Gallic style is always appealing." Financial Times
"Beautifully recorded, this is a terrific introduction to the music of Florent Schmitt (1870-1958), presented in demonstration-standard SACD sound. The two suites from Antoine et Cléopâtre are astonishing - often Straussian, Ravelian, sensual and gestural. Scoring throughout is the work of a master, including some exquisite nocturnal sound-painting ('Nuit au palais de la Reine', Suite No 2). The BBC Symphony Orchestra sounds lush and decadent, the recording supporting its sound perfectly. [Symphony No. 2] The emotional core is the dark, deeply interior second movement, beautifully sculpted and balanced by Oramo; the finale is capricious yet complex. A superb release." Classical Music
"It is a fascinating and, indeed, compelling mixture, at all times securely handled by a composer who knows exactly what he is doing and why, and one who conveys that certainty to the listener. The result is late musical Impressionism of a very high order …Oramo proves himself yet again a master-conductor in obtaining such outstanding playing" Classical Source
Tracks:
1-3 Orchestral Suite No. 1 from 'Antoine et Cleopatre', Op. 69 (1920)
4-6 Orchestral Suite No. 2 from 'Antoine et Cleopatre', Op. 69 (1920)
7-9 Symphony No. 2 Op. 137 (1956-57)
