This is the first of four volumes dedicated to unpublished work and rarities for piano duo and duet.

Florent Schmitt stands alongside Debussy and Ravel as one of the most original and influential French composers of his time. Beyond a few works such as the Trois rhapsodies, Op.53, Schmitt’s piano duos and duets have been hardly known on disc.

This release includes rarities such as the unpublished Rapsodie parisienne.

The Invencia Piano Duo has won high critical acclaim for its compelling interpretations of a vast and diverse repertoire. Oksana Lutsyshyn was a prize winner at the Vienna Modern Masters International Performers’s Recording Awards Competition and the William Kapell International Piano Competition. Andrey Kasparov won the Albert Roussel Prize at the Orléans International Piano Competition and gave the première of Bartók’s Piano Concerto No.3 to great acclaim.

Schmitt’s warm melodic gift, sensual and subtle harmonies and rhythmic inventiveness makes this disc rewarding listening.