Florent SCHMITT Piano Quintet, Op

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Florent SCHMITT Piano Quintet, Op. 51 À tour d’anches, Op. 97 Solisten-Ensemble Berlin

Above, from left to right: Birgitta Wollenweber, Matthias Wollong, Petra Schwieger, Andreas Grünkorn, Ulrich Knörzer

C Left, from left to right: Matthias Bäcker, M Birgitta Wollenweber, Richard Obermayer, Frank Forst Y K 8.570489 8 570489bk Schmitt EU:570034bk Hasse 25/1/11 4:33 PM Page 2

Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) presque imperceptible du piano, avant d’émerger espiègle, le mouvement suivant est également pétri de Piano Quintet, Op. 51 • À tour d’anches, Op. 97 progressivement des profondeurs jusqu’à un apogée rythmes imprévisibles et d’énergie capricieuse. Le fortissimo. Ce qui suit est une étude de contrastes, où des troisième mouvement bipartite altère néanmoins quelque The French composer Florent Schmitt, once mentioned by In some ways Schmitt’s election to this most venerable passages d’une beauté délicate et lyrique alternent avec peu le caractère de l’ouvrage. Le poignant nocturne initial Stravinsky in the same breath as Debussy and Ravel, is a of institutions was surprising, given that in his capacity as des gestes passionnés et dramatiques. L’ouverture du présente une mélodie de hautbois délicate et désolée qui somewhat obscure figure today. Often relegated to the a critic for such publications as La France, Revue de France second mouvement se caractérise par une texture insolite, tour à tour s’intègre à la texture environnante et s’en shadows of music history, he was nevertheless a prominent and Le temps he frequently ruffled establishment feathers impressionniste : des cordes éthérées avec sourdine détache. Comme la sarabande qui suit, cette première and important member of early twentieth-century Parisian with his biting wit. According to the conductor Robert soulignent une mélodie en tremolo, tandis que les dessins section rappelle à la fois Ravel et Stravinsky. Le dernier musical life. Born in Blâmont in 1870, Schmitt grew up in Craft, Le Figaro described Schmitt as ‘a man who had de piano simples et délicats sont censés évoquer des mouvement s’intitule Quasimodo, et dans cette charmante a musical household. He was admitted into the Nancy mocked the Institut throughout his career’. Henri Dutilleux cloches lointaines. A partir de là, l’écriture se fait de plus pièce de caractère, il est effectivement facile de reconnaître Conservatoire at the age of seventeen to study piano and recalled that he used his privileged position to aid struggling en plus dense et complexe, tandis que la tension monte le célèbre bossu de Victor Hugo environné des cloches de composition, and just two years later found himself at the young composers, and he continued to be musically active inexorablement vers une frénésie virtuose, même si ce Notre-Dame de Paris. prestigious Paris Conservatoire, where he later took until his death in Paris on 17th August 1958. caractère est fréquemment ponctué d’épisodes de sérénité Composé pendant la guerre, À tour d’anches est le composition lessons with (among others) Massenet and The two works on this disc span a period of almost forty extatique, y compris avec le retour de la texture initiale. Le produit d’une période où Schmitt écrivit une grande Fauré. It was in these classes that he first encountered years. The Piano Quintet, Op. 51, which is dedicated to mouvement final démarre par une introduction de piano quantité de pièces de chambre, et sa création eut lieu, avec Ravel, with whom he formed a close and lasting friendship. Fauré, was composed between 1902 and 1908, in the inquiète et agitée qui mène à une mélodie dérangeante. celle de plusieurs autres de ses œuvres, au cours d’un Like Ravel, Schmitt entered the Prix de Rome decade after Schmitt won the Prix de Rome. This was also Les tensions réprimées au sein de l’ouverture menacent festival de musique de chambre organisé en son honneur competition five times, but unlike his more famous friend, around the same time that he wrote the ballet La tragédie continuellement de faire éruption, et c’est ce qui finit par à l’École Normale. Ce morceau brille par l’humour, his persistence was finally rewarded when he received first de Salomé, which later became one of his most famous se produire au cours de la dramatique section centrale, en l’énergie et l’esprit pour lesquels Schmitt était fameux, et prize in 1900 for the cantata Sémiramis. The prize brought contributions to the repertoire. A work of extraordinary une époustouflante cascade de notes, avant que l’ouvrage à l’écouter, on comprend aisément pourquoi, lorsqu’il his name to wider attention, and during this period Schmitt length, difficulty and beauty, the Quintet is a true n’atteigne enfin sa conclusion, abrupte et pleine de défi. disparut quinze ans plus tard, un critique écrivit que la travelled widely, meeting some of the most famous artists masterpiece, and has long been unjustly neglected. Schmitt, À tour d’anches, op. 97, composé entre 1939 et 1943, musique française venait de perdre un sourire et un maître. of the day and gradually solidifying his reputation. He was who often performed it himself, must have been a présente un énorme contraste avec les proportions En dépit des nombreuses distinctions qui l’honorèrent appointed as the Director of the Lyon Conservatoire in formidable pianist – at almost an hour in length, and with monumentales du Quintette. Fantasque et ironique, ce de son vivant, Florent Schmitt est peu connu aujourd’hui, 1922, although he only held this post for two years. In 1924 piano-writing that occasionally spills over into four staves, morceau parle résolument le langage du XXe siècle, et il et lorsqu’on cite son nom, c’est généralement en tant que his prominence was such that he was chosen to represent the piece poses a considerable challenge to its performers. est représentatif du style tardif de Schmitt. Il est écrit pour confrère moins accompli de Ravel ou de Stravinsky. his country at a festival organised by the recently-founded It was an immediate hit with critics and audiences alike, and hautbois, clarinette, basson et piano et son titre fait Pourtant, sa musique refuse de se laisser dédaigner, car International Society for Contemporary Music, held in established Schmitt’s name firmly in the public’s référence aux trois premiers instruments, qui emploient elle possède une voix généreuse et distinctive qui exige Prague. By 1931 his fame was assured, and he was given consciousness. In many ways, the Quintet marks a turning- des anches. Le premier mouvement, plein de drôlerie, qu’on l’écoute en tenant compte de sa propre identité. the official stamp of approval when he was awarded the point in his work, ushering in his mature period. Almost regorge de rythmes enjoués, les instruments se Légion d’Honneur. orchestral in scope, the work strains at the boundaries of its pourchassant les uns les autres à travers la texture musicale Caroline Waight His career continued to move from strength to strength, form, encompassing an extraordinary range of textures and pour finir par se fondre dans le lointain. Tout aussi Traduction française de David Ylla-Somers and five years later Schmitt was voted into a seat at the emotions, and containing a wealth of melody. Académie des Beaux-Arts, a division of the Institut de The first movement opens with an almost imperceptible France, although the writer Camille Mauclair asserted at the bass tremolo on the piano, before rising gradually from the time that he ran for the seat as a joke. Despite being a depths to a fortissimo climax. What follows is a study in personal triumph, the Institut’s offer resulted in the breaking contrasts, in which moments of delicate, lyrical beauty of a friendship. Stravinsky had also put himself forward alternate with impassioned, dramatic gestures. The opening for the seat, and Schmitt’s victory occasioned a rift between of the second movement is characterized by an unusual, the two composers that lasted until after Schmitt’s death. impressionistic texture: muted, ethereal strings outline a

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Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) tremolo melody, while the simple, delicate piano figuration features a mournful, delicate oboe melody, which weaves Quintette pour piano, op. 51 • À tour d’anches, op. 97 is marked ‘like distant bells’. Thereafter the writing in and out of the surrounding texture. This first section, like becomes increasingly dense and complex as the music the following sarabande, is reminiscent of both Ravel and A l’heure actuelle, le compositeur français Florent Schmitt, Stravinsky s’était lui aussi présenté, et la victoire de repeatedly works itself up into a virtuosic frenzy, although Stravinsky. The last movement is entitled Quasimodo, and un jour mentionné en même temps que Debussy et Ravel Schmitt provoqua un différend entre les deux this mood is frequently punctuated by passages of blissful in this charming character-piece it is indeed easy to picture par Stravinsky, est une personnalité quelque peu obscure. compositeurs, qui perdura jusqu’après le décès de Schmitt. serenity, including the return of the opening texture. The Victor Hugo’s famous hunchback among the bells of Notre Souvent oublié entre les pages de l’histoire de la musique, Par certains aspects, l’élection de Schmitt au sein de final movement begins with a restless, agitated piano Dame. il fut pourtant une figure en vue de la vie musicale cette très vénérable institution était étonnante, car il se introduction that leads into an unsettling melody. The Written during the war, À tour d’anches is the product parisienne du début du XXe siècle. Né à Blâmont en 1870, montrait très critique envers des publications comme La suppressed tensions within the opening continually threaten of a period in which Schmitt composed a good deal of Schmitt grandit dans une famille où la musique occupait France,laRevue de France, et Le temps et son esprit to erupt, and eventually do so in a breath-taking cascade of chamber music, and its première took place at a chamber une place importante. Il fut admis au Conservatoire de caustique prenait souvent l’establishment à rebrousse-poil. notes during the dramatic middle section, before the piece music festival given in his honour at the École Normale, Nancy à l’âge de dix-sept ans pour étudier le piano et la Selon le chef d’orchestre Robert Craft, Le Figaro décrivait gradually draws to an abrupt, defiant close. alongside several other of his works. It sparkles with the composition, et à peine deux années plus tard, il se Schmitt comme quelqu’un qui s’était moqué de l’Institut À tour d’anches, Op. 97, composed between 1939 and humour, energy and wit for which Schmitt was famous retrouvait au prestigieux Conservatoire de Paris, où il prit pendant toute sa carrière. D’après Henri Dutilleux, Schmitt 1943, could hardly provide a greater contrast with the and, listening to it, it is easy to understand why, upon his ensuite des leçons de composition, notamment avec employait sa position privilégiée pour venir en aide à de monumental proportions of the Quintet. Whimsical and death fifteen years later, one critic wrote that ‘French music Massenet et Fauré. C’est là qu’il fit la connaissance de jeunes compositeurs en difficulté, et il continua de mener ironic, it speaks an unmistakably twentieth-century has just lost a smile and a master’. Ravel, avec qui il noua une amitié étroite et durable. des activités liées à la musique jusqu’à sa mort, survenue language, and it is representative of his late style. Written Despite the many honours that were conferred upon A l’instar de Ravel, Schmitt tenta par cinq fois de à Paris le 17 août 1958. for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piano, the title refers to him during his lifetime, Florent Schmitt’s name is little décrocher le Prix de Rome, et contrairement à son célèbre Les deux œuvres proposées sur ce disque couvrent une these three reed instruments. The comical first movement known today, and when he is mentioned, it is generally ami, il finit par être récompensé de sa persévérance en période de près de quarante ans. Le Quintette pour piano is full of playful rhythms, the instruments chasing each only as Ravel’s or Stravinsky’s less distinguished 1900 lorsque sa cantate Sémiramis lui valut le premier op. 51, dédié à Fauré, fut composé entre 1902 et 1908, other through the texture until disappearing into the colleague. Yet his music refuses to be dismissed, prix. Cette victoire le fit connaître davantage, et pendant durant la décennie qui fit suite au Prix de Rome de Schmitt. distance. Equally mischievous, the following movement is possessing a rich and distinctive voice that demands to be cette période, il effectua de nombreux voyages, rencontrant Il s’agit aussi de l’époque où il écrivit le ballet La tragédie likewise infused with unpredictable rhythms and heard on its own terms. certains des plus célèbres artistes de l’époque et de Salomé, qui devait devenir l’une de ses plus célèbres capricious energy. The bipartite third movement, however, consolidant progressivement sa réputation. Il fut nommé contributions au répertoire. Œuvre d’une longueur, d’une alters the mood somewhat. The poignant opening nocturne Caroline Waight directeur du Conservatoire de Lyon en 1922, mais il difficulté et d’une beauté exceptionnelles, le Quintette est n’occupa ce poste que pendant deux ans. En 1924, il était un véritable chef-d’œuvre, longtemps négligé injustement. devenu si incontournable qu’il fut choisi pour représenter Schmitt, qui le jouait souvent lui-même, devait être un son pays à l’occasion d’un festival organisé à Prague par formidable pianiste: durant près d’une heure, avec une la Société internationale pour la Musique contemporaine écriture de piano qui déborde parfois sur quatre portées, fondée deux ans auparavant. En 1931, son renom était cette pièce constitue un défi considérable pour ses assuré, et sa valeur fut officiellement reconnue lorsqu’il fut interprètes. Elle rencontra un succès immédiat tant auprès fait Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur. des critiques que du public, et établit fermement le nom de La carrière de Schmitt continua de s’affirmer, et cinq Schmitt dans la conscience collective. Par de nombreux ans plus tard, il fut élu membre de l’Académie des Beaux- côtés, le Quintette est un tournant de son œuvre, marquant Arts, une branche de l’Institut de France, même si le début de sa maturité de compositeur. De portée quasi l’écrivain Camille Mauclair déclara à l’époque qu’il orchestrale, l’ouvrage cherche à repousser les limites de sa n’avait postulé à un siège que par plaisanterie. Bien forme, avec une palette extraordinaire de textures et qu’ayant été pour lui un triomphe personnel, cette d’émotions, et une grande richesse mélodique. nomination à l’Institut marqua la fin d’une amitié. Le premier mouvement débute sur un tremolo grave

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Birgitta Wollenweber Matthias Bäcker Birgitta Wollenweber was born near Cologne and studied at the Detmold Musikhochschule with Renate Kretschmar- The oboist Matthias Bäcker studied with Hans Werner Wätzig and Burkhard Glaetzner in Berlin and Leipzig, and in Fischer, and with Peter Wallfisch at the London Royal College of Music with a DAAD scholarship. Winner of the 1994 joined the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, where his teacher was Hansjörg Schellenberger. He Cologne and Darmstadt Chopin Competition, the Joy Scott Prize of the Royal College of Music, the GEDOK Prize and was principal oboe in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and a founding member of the Mahler distinction in the Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona and in the 1991 German Music Council’s competition Chamber Orchestra. After engagements as a principal with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the National Theatre for young musicians, she began a career that has taken her to festivals and concert engagements throughout Europe, in Mannheim, in 1999 he joined the Berlin German Opera as principal oboe. Guest engagements have brought with broadcasts, television appearances and recordings. In 2002 she founded the Solisten-Ensemble Berlin, with collaboration with leading orchestras and conductors at home and abroad. distinguished wind and string players, appearing as ensembles from a duo to an octet. She has a comprehensive repertoire and her recordings include works by re-discovered composeres such as Julius Weismann and Carl Loewe, Richard Obermayer Georg von Albrecht, Salomon Jadassohn and Joseph Joachim and Wilhelm Furtwängler. She was appointed professor Born in Munich in 1975, the clarinettist Richard Obermayer, at the age of fourteen, joined the class of Gerd Starke at of piano at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule in Berlin in 2003. the Munich Musikhochschule, continuing his studies with Ulf Rodenhäuser. From 1999 to 2001 he held a scholarship from the Herbert von Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and from 2001 was principal E flat clarinet in the Matthias Wollong Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and from August 2005 vice-principal clarinet of the Berlin German Symphony Orchestra. A pupil of Werner Scholz and Tibor Varga, among other teachers, Matthias Wollong has won various competition prizes, The winner of a number of competitions, he is active as a soloist and as a chamber musician in Germany and abroad. including the principal award of the Joseph Joachim Competition. He made his international début as leader and soloist of the Tibor Vaga Chamber Orchestra and since 1999 has been first concertmaster of the Dresden Staatskapelle. As a Frank Forst conductor he has led a number of tours of the German Chamber Orchestra and the New Berlin Chamber Orchestra, in Frank Forst studied the bassoon privately with Gerhard Hase in Stuttgart and from 1989 to 1992 at the Hanover addition to a guest engagement with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. He plays an Andreas Guarnerius violin of 1676. Musikhochschule with Klaus Thunemann, serving as assistant in the winter of 2002/03 at the Franz Liszt Musikhochschule in Weimar, and joining the faculty there the following year. In 1992 he was appointed principal Petra Schwieger bassoon in the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and in 1997 began regular collaboration with Camerata Salzburg. He has The violinist Petra Schwieger studied in Berlin with Werner Scholz and Stephan Picard, and in London with David appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Takeno, and has been the winner of a number of national and international prizes. She has appeared as a soloist and as Rheinland-Pfalz, the North West German Philharmonic and the New Berlin Chamber Orchestra, among others. a chamber musician at a number of leading festivals, and has been supported by scholarships from the Jürgen Ponto Stiftung, the German Stiftung Musikleben and the Studienstiftung of the German People. Since September 2004 she has been a member of the first violin section of the Berlin Staatskapelle. Ulrich Knörzer After early violin lessons, Ulrich Knörzer changed, three years later, to the viola, and studied with Rainer Moog at the Cologne Musikhochschule and with Karen Tuttle at the Juilliard School in New York. He participated in master-classes with Max Rostal, Sandor Vegh, Nobuko Imai, Wolfram Christ and Yuri Bashmet. Since 1990 he has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, while continuing an association with chamber music, not least as a member of the Berlin Scharoun Ensemble. Since 1999 he has taught at the Berlin Hochschule der Künste. Andreas Grünkorn Principal cellist of the Berlin German Symphony Orchestra, Andreas Grünkorn was born in 1962 in Bonn and was a pupil of David Geringas at the Lübeck Musikhochschule. Before graduation, he was appointed principal cellist of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, moving, in 1996, to his present position. He is active in chamber music, particularly with the Hartog Quartet and the Trio Atrium, and made his début in 1999 as a soloist in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 under Zden k Mácal. He has appeared as a soloist with conductors including Kent Nagano, Gary Bertini, Neeme Järvi, Andrey Boreyko and Jonathan Nott.

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Florent SCHMITT Piano Quintet, Op. 51 À tour d’anches, Op. 97 Solisten-Ensemble Berlin

Above, from left to right: Birgitta Wollenweber, Matthias Wollong, Petra Schwieger, Andreas Grünkorn, Ulrich Knörzer

C Left, from left to right: Matthias Bäcker, M Birgitta Wollenweber, Richard Obermayer, Frank Forst Y K 8.570489 8 Also available:

8.223689 8.550934

8.550444 8.572194 NAXOS NAXOS Compared by contemporaries to Ravel and Debussy, French composer Florent Schmitt is being rediscovered today. Following his death, one critic mourned that “French music has just lost a smile and a master”. The whimsical and sparkling À tour d’anches for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piano and the dramatically beautiful 8.570489 SCHMITT: Piano Quintet reveal a powerful and distinctive personality. By turns lyrical, SCHMITT: humorous and fiery, these two chamber works span a period of almost forty years, DDD from the beginning of Schmitt’s mature period to his late style. Playing Time Florent 74:03 SCHMITT Piano Quintet (1870–1958) Piano Quintet Piano Quintet, Op. 51* 58:26 1 I. Lent et grave – Animé 21:44 2 II. Lent 14:17 3 III. Animé 22:14 À tour d’anches, Op. 97† 15:21

4 I. A courre 1:45 www.naxos.com Made in Germany Booklet notes in Englis Ꭿ Ltd. International ൿ

5 II. Sur un rythme prévu 4:19 Ltd. 2011 Naxos Rights International 2011 Deutschlandradio / Naxos Rights 6 III. Nocturne – sarabande 7:16 7 IV. Quasimodo 1:54 Solisten-Ensemble Berlin

Birgitta Wollenweber, Piano français en h • Notice *Matthias Wollong, Violin I • Petra Schwieger, Violin II Ulrich Knörzer, Viola • Andreas Grünkorn, Cello C †Matthias Bäcker, Oboe • Richard Obermayer, Clarinet • Frank Forst, Bassoon M 8.570489 Recorded at Villa Siemens, Berlin, Germany, 5–7 April (tracks 1–3), 8 April (4–7) 2008 8.570489 Producer: Eckhard Glauche • Digital editing: Eckhard Glauche, Stefan Lang • Balance engineer: Henri Thaon Y Publishers: Salabert (tracks 1–3), Durand S. A. (4–7) • Booklet notes: Caroline Waight A co-production with Deutschlandradio Kultur K Cover image: Place Stanislas, Nancy, France (© Worldfoto / Dreamstime.com)