The life story of Dutch 'entartete' composer Leo Smit is quickly told. He was born in Amsterdam in 1900. At the conservatory there he studied composition with Sem Dresden and piano with Ulfert Schults. From 1924 to 1927 he taught music theory subjects. He then spent 10 years in Paris, then in Brussels, before returning to Amsterdam. He was deported in 1943 and died in Sobibor that same year. Most
… of Smit's oeuvre consists of orchestral works and chamber music. The fact that the harp plays an important role in this (as in the beautiful "Quintet" from 1928) is mainly due to Smit's collaboration with harpist Rosa Spier. In Smit's music, the influence of French neoclassical music is abundantly clear. Yet his music does show a unique personality, as in Smit's last completed work: the "Sonata for flute and piano". "Smit was in the prime of his life when he wrote this work; the high level of this sonata makes it painfully clear again, what losses Dutch cultural life has suffered as a result of the barbaric actions of the Nazi rule", says Marius Flothuis in a chapter from "The hundred composers book" dedicated to Leo Smit (edited by Pay-Uun Hiu and Jolande van der Klis). Fortunately, Dutch cultural life has been enriched in recent years with a renewed focus on Leo Smit. NM Special already released a CD dedicated to Leo Smit. Not long ago, the German label MDG released a CD of the Ensemble Villa Musica with chamber music. This CD was now good for a 9 in Listen (November 2000). Smits' however, discography has recently been multiplied with an edition of Donemus, with complete works on four CDs. Countless performers include flutist Eleonore Panmeijer, harpist Erika Waardenburg, cellist Quirine Viersen and the conductors Philippe Entremont, Ed Spanjaard and Lucas Vis. (HJ) _more
