Search - Franz Schmidt, Anton Bruckner, Martin Sieghart :: Schmidt: Symphony 4/Bruckner: 3 Orchestral Movements

ABOUT SCHMIDT

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 01/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the annals of symphonic literature, this wondrous, magical work, full of life, lament and love, should be held in the highest esteem. Would that it were so. Why is it that a composition so richly conceived and wrought, and so richly deserved of praise, has for the most part languished beside contemporaries such as Strauss, Mahler and Bruckner, to name a few? It strikes me as the most curious peccadillo.



Of the four symphonies penned by Franz Schmidt (1874-1939), his last, written at the twilight of his life, is the one with which to reckon. Cast in one continuous movement, but with discernible "sections," Symphony No. 4, from the mournful opening trumpet pronouncement to the sorrowful and bittersweet cello solo of the ersatz second movement Adagio, played with heart-wrenching angst by Elisabeth Bauer, through the phantasmagoric marcato third movement, with a stupendous climax that melds miraculously into the glorious fourth movement recapitulation, is laden with a nostalgia and longing that is relentlessly beautiful. The symphony ends as it begins: resigned and filled with pathos. At a tad over forty-five minutes, this romantic and emotional stronghold rivets the imagination like no other.



Under the direction of Martin Sieghart, with the Bruckner Orchester Linz playing its soul out, Schmidt's last symphony becomes every bit the incredible composition it is. And with Chesky's High Resolution Technology recording, the CD is easily demonstration class quality.



The Three Orchestral Movements of 1862 by Bruckner (1824-1896), pale by comparison. These are youthful, seedling works. Lots of fluff, little substance, and useful for those curious Brucknerians. His March in D minor is even less interesting, also 1862. Oh, sure, we hear possibilities to come, and that's fine, but perhaps some other Schmidt work might have been coupled, instead (e.g. the Variations on a Hussar's Song).



[Running time: 58:51]"

A Great Performance of Schmidt's Masterpiece

Jeffrey Lipscomb | Sacramento, CA United States | 05/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Schmidt's 4th and last Symphony (1933), one of the 20th Century's finest orchestral masterpieces, receives here perhaps its greatest-ever recording. Taped 1996 in stunning state of the art sound, Martin Sieghart and the Bruckner Orchester Linz deliver a gorgeously impassioned account that supplants the two best previous stereo recordings - Zubin Mehta's with the Vienna Philharmonic (coupled on Decca with a rather bland account of Mahler's 2nd Symphony), and Franz Welser-Most's faster account (EMI) with a London Philharmonic that doesn't have this music in its bones the way Sieghart's Austrians do. Like Schmidt himself, Sieghart was a cellist (former First Chair in the Vienna Symphony), and perhaps that has something to do with Sieghart's exceptional affinity for Schmidt's music.



I won't go into any great detail about the music (see Melvyn Sobel's excellent review below for more on that subject). If you have never heard Schmidt's music - unaccountably, its popularity is still largely confined to Austria - I would describe it as "Reger with feeling" or perhaps "Richard Strauss with greater depth," or even "Korngold with more solemnity." The most noticeable influences are Bruckner (especially the chromatic modulations, harmonic structures, and use of counterpoint), a cyclical development of themes that was also dear to Schumann (particularly his 4th Symphony), Liszt & Franck, and, of course, Wagner's large-scale orchestration. Schmidt dedicated the work to conductor Oswald Kabasta (1896-1946), who gave its first performance.



This is profoundly moving music. It is both a nostalgic look into the past and an agonizing anticipation of the future. Schmidt, in declining health, wrote this score just after his daughter's death in childbirth, and the music is filled with sorrow and lamentation. Schmidt reportedly called this work "a requiem for my daughter." Like the Sibelius 7th, this is a continuous one-movement symphony (but in three distinct sections). Everything develops from the long solo trumpet theme at the beginning (almost like the "tone row" found in serial music) - said to be the voice of Schmidt himself. Like Mahler, Schmidt's symphony seems to be continuously asking "What is life, and what is death?" And things end as they begin, on a simple solo trumpet note.



I have loved this music ever since buying its first-ever recording on an old Epic LP with Rudolf Moralt conducting the Vienna Symphony (which deserves a reincarnation on CD). Hopefully, this superb Chesky CD will bring Schmidt's masterpiece into the mainstream.



The Bruckner pieces are very early works (1862) and not especially distinctive. As a compulsive Bruckner collector, I have to confess that they were my main reason for buying this CD. The notes with this set claim that it is "committing (to our best knowledge) such early Bruckner works to a record for the first time." That's in error: there have been at least three recordings of the Three Orchestral Pieces and the March in D Minor that pre-date Chesky's. Of those, Hans-Hubert Schoenzler's 1970 Unicorn LP account with the London Phil. was perhaps slightly superior to this one. It was coupled with the even earlier (1849) Bruckner Requiem in D minor - a CD issue of the latter would be most welcome.



Highest recommendation."