"The Franz Schmidt Project has been set up by Jonathan Berman to record all four of Schmidt's symphonies with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. These will form the backbone of a far reaching project to perform and promote the music of Franz Schmidt leading to his 150th Birthday in 2024."
Website here: http://www.loganartsmanagement.com/jonathan-berman---the-franz-schmidt-project.html
The First Symphony seems to have been already recorded in January and clips from the recording sessions are uploaded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uROr8pOE1iA
Nice, but forgive me for asking: will conductor and orchestra be good enough to rival existing recordings?
I am delighted to learn of this. Any project that will shine a light on this great composer is worthwhile and with a BBC orchestra involved means it will receive publicity, airplay and promotion.
QuoteAny project that will shine a light on this great composer is worthwhile
I understand what you're saying, but I don't really agree. At this point in time it needs to be more than just 'any project'. And, if it's of only average quality, all the BBC involvement in the world won't sell it. In reality, the music will merely be accorded a few slices of Radio 3 afternoon airtime in advance of the release of the CDs and that'll be it. It'll be reviewed in BBC Music Magazine, of course, but so what? Their reviews aren't serious journalism anyway.
If this were the 1970s I'd be jumping for joy. But with multiple recordings of the symphonies available, it could be that the main interest of the project will lie elsewhere. We'll see...
Maybe they will dare to record "Deutsche Auferstehung" ("German Resurrection"), this absurd cantata which Schmidt began to write under Nazi-pressure. Would be interesting to hear this (and, due to its suspected "quality", hopefully proof that Schmidt was not a Nazi - similar to Shostakovich's funny "Song of the Woods" which clearly shows that Shostakovich was not a communist).
Well this is good news indeed, but I agree with the above comments: will these performances be strong enough to warrant them being made? Now, if we could have them in glorious SACD then do it!
What I really want is a legal recording of Fredigundis! Of Schmidt's music, that's the only thing (other than some early things) that still needs recording. I treasure my LP copy of a Viennese performance, but we need better.
I would be shocked frankly if anyone dared to take up Deutsche Auferstehung; most of it wasn't written by Schmidt anyway. Some of the lyrics are quite ugly and do nothing for Schmidt's reputation.
Fabio Luisi in Dallas is doing Das Buch next month, then a year later he's programmed the 4th - maybe he needs another go around with the music.
The only way an unjustly neglected composer will become known or "sung" again is through mass exposure. Schmidt's music is hardly ever given airplay on the BBC (which is perhaps the main media through which the wider public encounters unfamiliar music) so that is why I commend such a project, which must be considered a brave leap of faith and very welcome.
To dismiss recordngs of rarely heard music on the grounds that the conductor and/or orchestra is not top notch or of the first rank seems to me to be very narrow minded and also somewhat counter-productive.
Yes, I also wish the Vienna Philharmonic or the London Symphony would do these symphonies, conducted by Rattle or Mehta or Gergiev or whomever, but until these symphonies become really widely known and familiar, they will not peak the interest of the major ensembles or conductors. If we were to wait around until that happened, the music would languish forever.
So let us be glad that someone is taking up Schmidt's cause and with the involvement of the BBC to boot!
QuoteThe only way an unjustly neglected composer will become known or "sung" again is through mass exposure.
I'd hardly describe the odd afternoon broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as 'mass exposure'. It's a lot better than nothing, of course, but to describe it in this way is pure exaggeration - and wishful thinking. As for reviews in BBC's Music Magazine, well, all labels get reviewed there, if you can describe the paltry mentions as serious journalism.
QuoteTo dismiss recordngs of rarely heard music on the grounds that the conductor and/or orchestra is not top notch or of the first rank seems to me to be very narrow minded and also somewhat counter-productive.
I didn't dismiss them. I merely raised the question of the advisability of pitting a very good orchestra and unknown conductor against the bands and conductors who have already entered the field. Having said which, this is music that demands the very best...
QuoteYes, I also wish the Vienna Philharmonic or the London Symphony would do these symphonies, conducted by Rattle or Mehta or Gergiev or whomever, but until these symphonies become really widely known and familiar, they will not peak the interest of the major ensembles or conductors. If we were to wait around until that happened, the music would languish forever.
Well, of course, they
have been done by the very best orchestras/conductors - ChicagoSO (2;3 - N.Järvi); VPO (2 - Bychkov; 4 - Mehta); LPO (4 - Welser-Möst); and they've certainly been done by comparable bands, e.g. Malmö/Sinaisky; MDRSO Leipzig/Luisi. Frankly, I don't think your point stacks up.
I repeat: this is not the 1970s. We already have a considerable number of superb recordings of FS's symphonies.
I will, of course, be following this new project with real interest, but not with unbridled enthusiasm - except, perhaps, when it comes to unrecorded Schmidt...
Let's just agree to disagree on this point, shall we, and move on?
I doubt! But lets see. It's has become quite entertaining to see (once again) enthusiastic opinions by members here badgered by some people who insist on having the last word.
Well said FBerwald!
Does anyone know which label will issue the recordings?
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Yes, it would be great if Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic would conduct these symphonies... ... oh wait, they already have. The 4th, at least. (My first ever recording purchase of Schmidt's music, back in the early 1990s or so.) Well, it would be great if they'd do them _again_. Right.
My point precisely.
Vienna Phil did do the 2nd. I was at the BBC Proms concert that summer and hoping for a cd and then what do you know, it came out. No Mehta, but that's ok. The playing is stupendous. And they also recorded Das Buch with Harnoncourt. Schmidt's music is really difficult and I'd like to hear a cycle of the symphonies from Berlin - that supervirtuoso orchestra. Petrenko did a fine job with the 4th.
If I remember well, Kirill Petrenko performance of n.4 with the BPO was released as Cd in the limited number of one thousand copies destined to the subscribers of one year of BPO concerts in streaming.
I entirely agree with MartinH.
Here's a brief excerpt from the BPO/Petrenko performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=MyhFVnfwUqU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=MyhFVnfwUqU)
Utterly stupendous!
BPO's Digital Concert Hall is now free for everyone for a few weeks - You can watch their Schmidt 4 performance here https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/51178
Oh, great. Thanks!
The 1st CD will come out on 26th of March, 2021
Symphony No. 1
http://www.loganartsmanagement.com/jonathan-berman.html
This indicates that it's a download/streaming only release:
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=ACC-505441
I've just heard this recording on apple music. It sounds phenomenal. I've never been that into the first symphony - but I loved it this time. The orchestra sounds like an old school Austrian band.....very tender and wonderfully nuanced and Berman brings out so much I'd never heard in the score - even the bits which I though didn't make. any sense he finds a way to make them sound exactly right. I'm completely sold. Can't wait for the next instalments. https://music.apple.com/gb/album/schmidt-symphony-no-1-in-e-major/1555115626 (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/schmidt-symphony-no-1-in-e-major/1555115626)
Now listed for download (only) at Presto:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8896644--schmidt-symphony-no-1-in-e-major
...which I have duly downloaded myself. And I'm not so sure. The sound is rather 'comfortable' - the timps are barely audible, for example, and the upper strings perhaps sound somewhat under-nourished. All perfectly good, but certainly not outstanding. For comparison purposes I tried Järvi (senior) in Detroit on Chandos and what was immediately noticeable was his livelier tempi - he just keeps the music going where Berman rather sits back (which, of course, is a matter of preference).
Anyway, I'm not convinced from a first hearing that Berman offers us anything new. And he's definitely not as exciting as Järvi. Still, it's good to have another competitor in this fine symphony - and others may like it more that I.
I sure hope this downloading only is the way we're heading. I really want to hear this new recording, but I want a physical disk. There's a new set of Rachmaninoff symphonies on Sony that's supposedly dynamite - but alas, it's only available for download, for now anyway.
Quotebut I want a physical disk
They'll be getting rarer and rarer I think. Th economics of producing physical product for a very small global market (a few thousand at best worldwide for the sort of repertoire we're interested in) are making it less and less viable. For today's youngsters a CD is almost as archaic as a shellac 78 - music is a wholly virtual experience for them.
A few days ago I saw someone talking about something a parent did "in the days of CDs" as if it was a long time ago.
And so back to the topic, please.
..and here, after a wait of 2½ years, is the complete set on CD - on the Accentus label:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9543195--franz-schmidt-the-symphonies
My first point of comparison was the slow movement of No.4. Do take a moment to compare how Mehta gives the music (marked 'adagio') time to breath, whereas Berman almost hustles the music along:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8050349--schmidt-symphony-no-4-schoenberg-chamber-symphony (Mehta)
Of course, I learnt the 4th Symphony 50 years ago from Mehta's classic recording, so maybe I'm just biased...
The first complete Schmidt Symphonies (on the Slovak Opus label) were realised in 1987 by Maestro Ludovit Rajter and the Radio Bratislava Symphony Orchestra (later Slovak Radio SO). Schmidt and Josef Marx were Rajter's composition teachers at the Vienna Hochschule. In other words, these recordings can be considered as quite authoritative. No big show, but deeply felt.
Rajter was also the founder of the Slowak Philarmonic. Before Slovakia's indipendence he was a non.convinced Communist (therefore considered a "supect person") and got his rehabilitation only in 1991. He was a higly cultivated person, I admired him. In the 1980s he had the reputation of being the oldest active conductor of the world. I attended a few of his Bratislava Philharmonic concerts, an orchestra which was managed at that time by his wife.
And it was thanks to Rajter that the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra had become such a super orchestra. I could personally take advantage of this - and will never forget the great time between 1987 and 2000 in which I could record 21 CDS with this ensemble.
True. Though a half-complete recording under different conductors (symphonies 2 & 3) was released in 1977 by Classical Excellence, I believe?? (I don't know if symphony no.1 was recorded before Etti/Tonkünstler Orchestra on ÖRF in 1984... symphony no.4 first in 1955, yes.)
Thanks, Adriano, for that personal memoir of Rajter and his pioneering work on behalf of Franz Schmidt. We must always be grateful to those musicians who brought great music to a wider public. We are indeed fortunate to live in times when so much unsung repertoire can now be heard and appreciated.
If you want to know more about Jonathan Berman's views on Franz Schmidt, his music and his times, here is an interview I did with him:
http://www.the-new-listener.de/index.php/2024/11/17/franz-schmidt-and-his-symphonies-an-interview-with-jonathan-berman/
"There's some very good music that you spend six months learning, and then a week with an orchestra, and then you're happy to leave it for a few years. I always want to go back to Schmidt's music. After a performance the first thing I do is: I open the score and want to explore more..." (Jonathan Berman)
Jonathan Berman's mention of Dohnanyi is interesting as I had wondered if he and Schmidt knew each other. I have the piano part of Dohnanyi's Sextet in C major at the moment and one passage in particular reminds me of Schmidt. Good to see another set of the Schmidt symphonies. I have the Sinaisky/Malmö Symphony Orchestra set but my first encounter was over 50 years ago with the Mehta recording of the fourth.
Quote from: Pyramus on Tuesday 31 December 2024, 19:32but my first encounter was over 50 years ago with the Mehta recording of the fourth.
...which is still by far the best recording of Schmidt's greatest symphony. He gets the slow movement better than anyone else and so doesn't hurry what is supposed to be a proper late-romantic Adagio.
I agree with that, but I also prefer Paavo Järvi in the other movements, not least because the percussion in the Mehta sounds rather too clickety-clackety for my liking and is too much recessed.
Well, the Mehta is now over fifty years old - and I'm probably very biased! Imagine a time when the other symphonies were all but unknown and there was just that one precious Decca LP of the 4th. I have a vague memory of travelling back from London on the train having bought myself a copy. I was probably about 18! Happy days...
Horvat's recordings of the whole cycle were released only 5 years later (1977), though their availability may not have been universally wide :)