“This CD set is undoubtedly among the most significant projects of our recording careers. Schmitt’s music has always enthralled us with its splendid colors, Gallic wit, spontaneity of expression, bold imagination, daring stylistic contrasts, rhythmic vitality and rich texture. It is our sincere hope that this release will help popularize the composer’s piano duet and duo works and that these marvelous pieces will eventually find their way into the standard repertoire.” – Andrey Kasparov & Oksana Lutsyshyn

Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1900, Florent Schmitt stands alongside Debussy and Ravel as one of the most original and influential French composers of his time. This is the first of four volumes including unpublished work and rarities for piano duo and duet, each representing Schmitt’s rich harmonic palette and good humored lyricism.

Schmitt’s piano duos and duets are probably second only to Schubert in terms of sheer quantity and yet beyond a few works such as the Trois rhapsodies, Op. 53, they have been hardly known on disc. This new complete four volume set of recordings seeks to redress this lack, and includes numerous rarities such as the unpublished Rapsodie parisienne . Schmitt’s wide travels throughout his life ensured a vast resource of influences and inspiration. Performed by the multiple award winning Invencia Piano Duo, Schmitt’s warm melodic gift, sensual but subtly stated harmonies and rhythmic inventiveness make these works a rewarding journey of discovery in their own right.

TROIS RAPSODIES, OP. 53, FOR 2 PIANOS (21:54)
1  No. 1. Française (05:16)
2  No. 2. Polona (09:05)
3  No. 3. Viennoise (07:33)

SEPT PIÈCES, OP 15, FOR PIANO 4-HANDS * (32:20)
4  No. 1. Somnolence (03:16)
5  No. 2. Souvenir de Ribeaupierre (03:51)
6  No. 3. Scintillement (03:21)
7  No. 4. Souhaits de jeune fille (02:46)
8  No. 5. Promenade à l’étang (04:11)
9  No. 6. Fête septentrionale (04:10)
10  No. 7. Traversée heureuse (04:33)

RHAPSODIE PARISIENNE, FOR PIANO 4-HANDS * (32:20)
11  Rhapsodie parisienne (06:12)

TOTAL TIME: 54:14

The Invencia Piano Duo has won high critical acclaim for its compelling interpretations of a vast and diverse repertoire. Hailing from Armenian and Ukrainian families, 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. They presently make their home in the United States and serve on the faculty at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Additionally, they are Artistic Co–Directors of the Norfolk Chamber Consort. Kasparov and Lutsyshyn are critically acclaimed recording artists. Both members of the duo are recipients of prestigious awards. Lutsyshyn was a prizewinner at the Vienna Modern Masters Third International Performers’ Recording Awards Competition in 1997 and the William Kapell International Piano Competition in College Park, Maryland in 1990. As a result of the latter, she made her début at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Kasparov won the Albert Roussel Prize at the Orléans International Piano Competition in 1998. In 1994 Kasparov gave the première of the newly discovered edition of Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, revised by the composer himself. In addition to his career as a pianist, Kasparov is an active composer whose works have been published and recorded by the Kompozitor Publishing House in Moscow and the Atlantic Music Artist Agency in Kiev, among many others. His awards include a prize from the Sergey Prokofiev International Composition Competition in Moscow in 1997 for his Piano Sonata No 2.

Watch The Invencia Piano Duo play: Rhapsodie parisienne