Schmitt Raison Gestes

French composer Florent Schmitt, a part of Ravel's Les Apaches group around 1900, has received renewed attention from recording companies, and this release is part of a group of Schmitt discs from Chandos, which has the engineering chops to handle their bulk. The suites from Antoine et Cléopâtre here were part of the music written for a six-hour ballet commissioned by dancer Ida Rubinstein.

This CD contains three works by three relatively unknown Classical era composers, performed on a (now) relatively rare keyboard instrument of the same period. However, although being obscure, these works are all pleasantly refreshing, combining Style Galant keyboard writing with Mannheim School orchestral writing. Arthur Schoonderwoerd and his Ensemble Cristofori play piano concertos of Johann Wilhelm Wilms and Carolus Antonius Fodor and a piano quartet of Joseph Schmitt with enthusiasm on period instruments. Schoonderwoerd uses a "tangent piano" for the Wilms and Schmitt.