- Erik Smith
Erik George Sebastian Smith (25 March 1931 - 4 May 2004) was a German-born British record producer, pianist and harpsichordist. He produced over 90 opera recordings. His greatest legacy is the 1991 complete recording of the entirety of
Mozart 's compositions, which included many previously unheard fragments and was released for the bicentenary of Mozart's death.He was born in
Rostock , the son of the German conducterHans Schmidt-Isserstedt . His Jewish mother took him from Germany in 1936, with his brother, to be brought up in England. He did his tertiary education atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge .Through his friendship with the American pianist
Julius Katchen , he joined the Decca company as a record producer, working with such people asJohn Culshaw and Gordon Parry.In 1958 he produced the first recording of "
Peter Grimes ", conducted by the composerBenjamin Britten . He also produced the first recording of Mozart's opera "La Clemenza di Tito ", with the conductorIstvan Kertesz .He formed the
London Wind Soloists and theVienna Mozart Ensemble in order to record the complete wind music and the complete dances and marches of Mozart. Many of these were premiere recordings.In 1967 he moved to
Philips . Here, he produced a series ofHaydn operas, many earlyVerdi operas, Tippett's "The Midsummer Marriage ", andBerlioz 's "The Trojans " and "Benvenuto Cellini ". Many of these were premiere recordings.In 1991 he created his master work, the Complete Mozart Edition, on 180 CDs. He even completed some of Mozart's unfinished works such as the finale of the String Quartet, K. 464.
After his formal retirement in 1991, he continued to devote time to projects such as
Mitsuko Uchida 's cycle ofSchubert sonatas.He won
Grammy Award s in 1971, 1973, 1976 and 2003.He died on 4 May 2004, survived by his wife and two daughters.
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