Search - Smit :: Leo Smit: Complete Works

The Dutch composer Leo Smit (1900-1943) was a Holocaust victim, not to be confused with the fine American composer-pianist Leo Smit. This set collects all the surviving music by the Dutch composer, most of which he hid away safely before being shipped with his harpist wife to an extermination camp. Smit's composing personality has a wide range, but his most characteristic style owes much to Ravel (to whom he wrote an homage) and, often, to American jazz. Smit's chamber music has clear textures, firm rhythms, and a great deal of melodic and harmonic interest; his orchestral works are brilliantly scored, usually quite concise and effective. This joint effort by a wide variety of Dutch performers is generally well performed (although in a few pieces other available Dutch recordings are even better), and the effect of hearing Smit's complete works convinces us that a worthwhile voice was silenced in its prime. Donemus's booklet, in Dutch and English, is extremely useful. But the fold-out package format is very inconvenient and may not hold up to repeated use. --Leslie Gerber