Erik George Sebastian Smith (25 March 19314 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 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's compositions, which included many previously unheard fragments and was released for the bicentennial of Mozart's death.

Biography

He was born in Rostock, the son of the German conductor Hans 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 at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

. Through his friendship with the American pianist

Julius Katchen Julius Katchen (August 15, 1926 – April 29, 1969) was an American concert pianist, possibly best known for his recordings of Johannes Brahms's solo piano works. Early career Katchen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and debuted at age ...

, he joined the Decca company as a record producer, working with such people as

John Culshaw John Royds Culshaw, OBE (28 May 192427 April 1980) was a pioneering English classical record producer for Decca Records. He produced a wide range of music, but is best known for masterminding the first studio recording of Wagner's ''Der Ring ...

and Gordon Parry. In 1958 he produced the first recording of '' Peter Grimes'', conducted by the composer Benjamin Britten. He also produced the first recording of Mozart's opera '' La clemenza di Tito'', with the conductor István Kertész, in 1967. Erik Smith formed the

London Wind Soloists London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

and the

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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 of Haydn operas, many early Verdi operas,

Tippett Tippett is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andre Tippett (born 1959), American Hall of Fame footballer *Clark Tippet (1954–1992), American dancer *Dave Tippett (born 1961), ice hockey coach * Keith Tippett (born 1947), Eng ...

's ''

The Midsummer Marriage ''The Midsummer Marriage'' is an opera in three acts, with music and libretto by Michael Tippett. The work's first performance was at Covent Garden, on 27 January 1955, conducted by John Pritchard. The reception of the opera was controversial, o ...

'', and Berlioz's ''

The Trojans ''Les Troyens'' (; in English: ''The Trojans'') is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the ''Aeneid''; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ''Les Tr ...

'' and ''

Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the ''Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiography ...

''. 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 of Schubert sonatas. He won Grammy Awards in 1971, 1973, 1976 and 2003. Erik Smith died on 4 May 2004, survived by his wife Priscilla and two daughters, Miranda and Susanna.

Partial discography

* Haydn: ''La fedeltà premiata'' (Antal Doráti recording) * Haydn: ''Il mondo della luna'' (Antal Doráti recording)

Sources

*Cairns, David (May 11, 2004)
"Obituary: Erik Smith, Record producer breaking new ground with Mozart and Berlioz"
'' The Guardian'' *'' The Daily Telegraph'' (May 17, 2004)
""Obituary: Erik Smith"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Erik 1931 births 2004 deaths British record producers British classical pianists British harpsichordists Grammy Award winners Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century British pianists 20th-century British musicians