Schmidt Symphony 4 Kirill Petrenko

[Alan Howe]

...if only he'd record it...
https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/51178?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DCH%20Newsletter%2012042018%20-%20EN&utm_content=DCH%20Newsletter%2012042018%20-%20EN+CID_3ddeb1f100190f16c6cd30842b75a298&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter

[MartinH]

Well, you could record this performance I suppose. Or there is a Youtube of him doing it. Maybe he'll do a bunch of Schmidt and the BPO will produce one of those fancy boxes like they did for Rattle/Sibelius or Brahms. That'd be something!

Does anyone know if this is a Berlin premiere? The only Schmidt they have on disk is the Intermezzo from Notre Dame.

[Alan Howe]

How can it be recorded, please?

The YouTube performance...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDPElQkEX1g
...with the WDRSO (Cologne) dates from 2000.

[JP]

Hmm, we could suggest to the BPO in-house recording label to couple this upcoming performance of Schmidt's 4th Symphony by Petrenko with Rattle's critically acclaimed FM classical radio live recording of Suk's Asrael Symphony which he conducted at the Berliner Festwochen dating back to Sept 1992. I'm sure BPO would be able to make the necessary arrangements to buy over the exclusive licensing rights or at the very least secure a temporary contractual lease of sorts to acquire that legendary recording from the German classical radio network with the ownership entitlements.  That stupendously electrifying and passionate performance was roundly hailed and commended then but hardly referenced or scarcely mentioned nowadays. (Incidentally Petrenko has recorded this and other key works from Suk's orchestral tetralogy on the CPO label).  Whatever remaining shred of evidence chronicling Rattle's singular (?) performance of the Asrael Sym via online sources has now become most scant indeed:

< http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Nov02/Berlin_Philharmoniker.htm > see end of Para 2

< http://studylibde.com/doc/2163576/sir-simon-rattle---berliner-philharmoniker > scroll to pg 4, middle of para 2

< http://livrozilla.com/doc/365181/sir-simon-rattle---berliner-philharmoniker > Scroll to bottom of Pg 1 featuring the archived tabulation of BPO's past concert schedules

Both works revolve around the shared themes of death of loved ones close to the composers.  As such, this proposed coupling onto 2 discs would appropriately signify the momentous transition of the BPO from the Rattle era to the Petrenko era.  It would herald a revolving door sensation of inexorable transition amid changing times for this iconic orchestral establishment when these two maestros sporadically went about momentarily championing lesser known postromantic works in the immediate wake then, and now presently, the overarching iconic shadow of the post-Karajan epoch at key points of their respective conducting careers.  Interestingly, these 2 conductors experienced their fleeting phases experimentation dabbling with non-mainstream late-romantic repertoire when they were inbound and on the ascendant pathways to eventually clinch the orchestra's much coveted musical directorship post. Let's hope Maestro Petrenko stays firmly entrenched on the maverick mode and not let the pressures of conventional musical tastes wear down his more wayward tendencies and exploratory inclinations when it comes to musical programming.

Incidentally, the complete set of Pfitzner's Palestrina operatic preludes which Janowski guest conducted in a September 2017 concert performance would make an ideal filler to the Schmidt Sym 4 disc bearing in mind that the preludes was last recorded by Ferdinard Leitner on DG label about 6 decades ago.

< https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/51042 >

< https://www.discogs.com/Hans-Pfitzner-Ferdinand-Leitner-Berliner-Philharmoniker-3-Palestrina-Vorspiele-Sinfonie-C-dur-Op-46/release/6492357 >

Just my two-pence worth of a proposition to kickstart the BPO label's next set of prospective releases stemming from their in-house productions arising primarily from the practical consideration of banking upon a readily available/accessible pool of recorded performances.  This of course is irrespective whether Petrenko decides to ultimately perform or record the entire Schmidt symphonic cycle with the orchestra which would perhaps be too lofty a watermark for much longed for wishlists to attain. I too am emphatically hoping that the BPO under Petrenko gets to experimentally entangle itself with a Berlin premiere of JB Foerster's 4th and 5th symphonies alongside Vitezslav Novak's 'Pan' as a follow-up to his celebrated Suk cycle.

JP

 

[Alan Howe]

I think that's too complicated. One CD of Schmidt 4 would be sufficient.

[gnicholls]

There is a positive review by Hugo Shirley of the Berlin Philharmonic concerts conducted by Kirill Petrenko and presented in Berlin April 12-15, 2018 that include Schmidt's Symphony No. 4 here:

https://bachtrack.com/es_ES/review-schmidt-peri-kirill-petrenko-wang-berlin-philharmonic-april-2018

The work was first done by the BPO in 1943, and has not been performed by them since 1960. Neither has Dukas's La Peri, also on the program.

I have read German-language reviews that are equivocal. Looking askance at this so-called "late romantic" work for being behind its time (the early 1930's), they fail to recognize Schmidt's uniqueness. They focus instead on Kirill Petrenko's arrival as head of the BPO in 2019, and in some cases on what the assumed "statement" this program is making about Petrenko's future BPO programming and orchestral style. 

[JeremyMHolmes]

I read a rumour somewhere that this concert might be repeated in London in September at a certain Festival. Probably just speculation based on the fact they are doing it again in Lucerne in the same month. All will be revealed on Thursday anyway!!

[gnicholls]

The Lucerne Festival performance of the Dukas/Prokofiev/Schmidt program is Thursday, August 30, 1930h. It was to be repeated on Aug. 31 but now another orchestra is scheduled and the BPO is doing a different program on Wednesday, August 29.

The Salzburg Festival performance of the Dukas/Prokofiev/Schmidt program is Monday, August 27, 1900h.

Good news is that neither date would interfere with a London concert in September! It would be great if a Schmidt CD of No. 4 by the BPO could happen, but I agree with Alan Howe that anything more for the BPO with its particular stature and issues is likely too complicated.

[mjkFendrich]

The Berlin performance of the Dukas/Prokofiev/Schmidt program is on Deutschland Radio for some weeks here:

   http://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/kirill-petrenko-bei-den-berliner-philharmonikern-suche-nach.1357.de.html?dram:article_id=415700

[MartinH]

A huge thanks for sending that link! But now it stops working after a bit of the clarinet solo in the Prokofieff.

[JeremyMHolmes]

Yes indeed, see the Proms 2018 line up, September 1st!!