Beyond his personal story, discover the music of Florent Schmitt! The French composer Florent Schmitt was born in 1870 in Meurthe-et-Moselle, then studied under Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Théodore Dubois and Albert Lavignac. Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1900, Schmitt saw his post-Romantic music regularly performed in France before the Second World War, but afterward his work was neglected and is today very rarely performed (or recorded). This recording of his Symphonie concertante, with Peter Donohoe as soloist, is only the second commercial recording of this work. “Çançunik,” “Suite en deux parties,” was composed for a competition organized by the Compagnie Française de Radiophonie. The suite won first prize and is here receiving its first recording! The other pieces on the album (“Trois danses” and “Mémorial”) are orchestrations by the composer of his own works, originally written for solo piano.