Franz Schmidt(1874-1939)

[Sergeant Rock]

I will probably go with that based on price and availability alone. But I would love to hear your thoughts on the other recordings, especially Luisi, whose work in other repertoire I greatly admire. Thanks in advance.

Sorry, I can't help you. Das Buch is the only Luisi Schmidt CD I don't have. I have Horst Stein and W-M. For price and performance you can't go wrong with the latter.

Sarge

[Hattoff]

Because of the GMG boards I downloaded Schmidt's Konzertante Variationen uber ein Thema von Beethoven and now want to listen to the symphonies. Does anyone know the the Naxos set? Is it okay or should I save up and get one of the others?

I'm having a great time with all the free Unsung Composer downloads and feel that I should actually pay for something

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Hi, Steve! I don't know the Naxos cycle, but I do know the one by Järvi - very good. The best Fourth, on the other hand, is by Zubin Mehta. Sarge knows the other cycle, too, with Fabio Luisi. He was very positive about it.

[Hattoff]

Thanks Johan,
So much music, so little time

[cilgwyn]

I like Schmidt,but only the 'cheerful' ones. Symphony No 4 and 'Das Buch mit wotsit' are so gloomy,especially 'Das Buch'. Try as hard as I can,I get nowhere,and the eject button is pressed.
The first and second get played the most,particularly the marvellous third,which gets played more than any of the others. The Second seems very ott in places,which is a pity,because there is allot of great sounding music there. At the same time,I have to admit,the noisy,over stuffed climaxes ARE fun!

[Sergeant Rock]

Does anyone know the the Naxos set? Is it okay or should I save up and get one of the others?

I was very disappointed by Sinaisky's First. The opening of the symphony is all wrong. Horrible. Perhaps that's just my problem, though, since the cycle has gotten good reviews and I've found nothing comparably bad with the other symphonies. Still, he doesn't replace old favorites. If you want my recommendation, find a used copy of the Rajter cycle with the RSO Bratislava. Rajter was a pupil and friend of Schmidt. He plays his mentor's music with authority and dedication. The Bratislava may be a second rate band but nowhere else is the music so often played, so deeply embedded in the bones of the musicians.

Luisi's is a great cycle too (would be my second choice) but still very expensive on full-priced single discs. Järvi is generally too swift for me but I love his First (he broadens his tempos here and makes Detroit sound like a central European orchestra). Favorites:

1 Rajter Järvi
2 Rajter Luisi
3 Rajter Luisi
4 Mehta Rajter Welser-Möst


Sarge

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I learned something today. Thanks, Sarge.

[cilgwyn]

Unfortunately,my criticism of Schmidt's Second just makes me want to listen to it again. I can't wait! I remember saying that late Mahler was gloomy and self indulgent (how original!). The next minute I was buying Mahler cd's again & ever since then I've been hooked!
I have the Clarinet Quintet lined up for later.

[Hattoff]

Thanks Sarge, I will take your advice.....The search begins.

[cilgwyn]

A recording of Schmidt's opera 'Fredigundis',first performed in 1922, would be useful. I remember R3 broadcast the opera,or excerpts from it (Schmidt on Composer of The Week). In fact,I'm rather suprised Cpo,or some other such label,HASN'T recorded it. It's a gap in Schmidt's output that need to be filled in,even if isn't a masterpiece? Although,a comment on one site describes 'Fredigundis' as "probably the best opera that hardly anyone has ever heard!"
The 'website' (one page!) 'Fairness for Fredigundis' is dedicated to turning a recording of this opera into a commercial reality. According to the site,'Fredigundis' is stylistically midway between Schmidt's Second symphony and 'Das Buch mit sieben siegeln'. You can also listen to some excerpts there,although apparently,the recording quality is not very good.

Sarge has definately got a point about links (see Brian thread)!! Come on you cd labels,let's have a commercial release for this opera!

http://fredigundis.com/

[Octave]

I've just started listening to Schmidt, with my entree to the symphonies the Rajter cycle and Mehta's 4th, possibly soon FWM's 4th as well.  Since it's been two years since DAS BUCH was discussed, I thought I'd put in another request for discussion of the relative merits of the recordings of that work, for those who've heard more than one.  MishaK listed several modern recordings at the top of this page.

[Mirror Image]

I love Schmidt's symphonies, especially the 2nd and 4th. I really would like to track down Fabio Luisi's performances.

[snyprrr]

wow, a year and a half!!!

Nothing special, jus' a bump

[cilgwyn]

I bought the Rajter recording of Schmidt's third a few months ago after reading some enthusiastic posts here & the reviews/comments posted on Amazon (More expense,thanks! ). I definately prefer this performance to Jarvi's and the Naxos. In fact,much as I liked this symphony anyway,this was the first time the symphony really 'worked' for me! Are the other Rajter recordings of 1,2 & 4 worth buying ,I wonder? The third is,by all accounts,particularly difficult to bring off;but maybe the lush textures of  and spectacle of No's 1 & 2 gain something from the 'Chandos sound'?

[The new erato]

wow, a year and a half!!!

Nothing special, jus' a bump

You bumped your head? Hope you're well.

[Scion7]

• supported Hitler for "patriotic" reasons - the Anschluss - later repudiated the Nazi movement, but not before giving the Nazi salute at the premiere of his oratorio, The Book with Seven Seals
• His lifelong friend and colleague Oskar Adler, who fled the Nazis in 1938, wrote afterwards that Schmidt was never a Nazi and never anti-semitic but was extremely naïve about politics. Hans Keller gave similar endorsement. Regarding Schmidt's political naivety, Michael Steinberg, in his magisterial book, The Symphony, tells of Schmidt's recommending Variations on a Hebrew Theme by his student Israel Brandmann to a musical group associated with the proto-Nazi German National Party.
• His first wife - Karoline - went insane, was institutionalized in 1919, and was murdered by the Nazis in 1942 as part of their euthanasia program
• First child, Emma, dies in childbirth (Symphony No.4 dedicated to her)
• father was German, mother was Slovak - his first language was Hungarian
• feud with Mahler was never resolved
• his friends included Schreker and Joseph Marx, while Krenek, Berg and Schoenberg admired him
• like Brahms, a ruthless destroyer of works deemed unworthy - most of his juvenilia is lost
• told Herbert von Karajan he had no future as a conductor!   

Chamber Music
==============================
3 kleine Phantasiestücke nach ungarischen Nationalmelodien, for Cello and Piano, 1892;
String Quartet in A, 1925;
Piano Quintet in G, 1926;
String Quartet in G, 1929;
Quintet in Bb for clarinet, piano, violin, viola and cello, 1932;
Quintet in A, for clarinet, piano, violin, viola and cello, 1938

Organ works - Variationen und Fuge über ein eigenes Thema, D; Königsfanfaren, 1916; Phantasie und Fuge, D, 1923–4; Königsfanfaren, 1924; Toccata, C, 1924; Präludium und Fuge, E, 1924; Chaconne, c, 1925; Königsfanfaren, wind ad lib, 1925; 4 kleine Choralvorspiele, 1926; Fuge, F, 1927; Präludium und Fuge, C, 1927; 4 kleine Präludien und Fugen, 1928; Choralvorspiel zu Haydns 'Gott erhalte', wind ad lib, 1933; Choralvorspiel 'Der Heiland ist erstanden', wind ad lib, 1934; Präludium und fuge, A, 1934; Toccata und Fuge, A, 1935

Piano Sonata No.1 in E
Piano Sonata No.2, Op.7
Romance for Piano in A  (1922)
Toccata in d for left-hand (1938)

Orchestral - 4 symphonies; Konzertante Variationen über ein Thema von Beethoven, pf left hand, orch, 1923; Fuga solemnis, 16 wind, org, timp, 1937; Variationen über ein Husarenlied, 1930–31; Piano Concerto in E for left hand, 1934

[Daverz]

I bought the Rajter recording of Schmidt's third a few months ago after reading some enthusiastic posts here & the reviews/comments posted on Amazon (More expense,thanks! ). I definately prefer this performance to Jarvi's and the Naxos.

I think the Pesek recording is wonderful, but the only other recording I've heard is Jarvi's.  Amazon has 3 listings for it:

http://www.amazon.com/Franz-Schmidt-Symphony-Supraphon-Denon/dp/B000EO6PTM/
http://www.amazon.com/Franz-Schmidt-Symphony-Conducting-Philharmonic/dp/B000WL19OI/
http://www.amazon.com/SCHMIDT-PESEK-SLOVAK-PHILHARMONIC-ORCHESTRA/dp/B004717GKU

[jlaurson]

latest on ionarts:

Dip Your Ears, No. 213 (A Seven-Seal One Man Show)

[cilgwyn]

I was very disappointed by Sinaisky's First. The opening of the symphony is all wrong. Horrible. Perhaps that's just my problem, though, since the cycle has gotten good reviews and I've found nothing comparably bad with the other symphonies. Still, he doesn't replace old favorites. If you want my recommendation, find a used copy of the Rajter cycle with the RSO Bratislava. Rajter was a pupil and friend of Schmidt. He plays his mentor's music with authority and dedication. The Bratislava may be a second rate band but nowhere else is the music so often played, so deeply embedded in the bones of the musicians.

Luisi's is a great cycle too (would be my second choice) but still very expensive on full-priced single discs. Järvi is generally too swift for me but I love his First (he broadens his tempos here and makes Detroit sound like a central European orchestra). Favorites:

1 Rajter Järvi
2 Rajter Luisi
3 Rajter Luisi
4 Mehta Rajter Welser-Möst


Sarge

The Rajter recordings are not easy to find at reasonable prices,and even if you find one,seller ratings are sometimes poor,and/or the feedback puts you off buying. I wasn't entirely happy with the Jarvi,and the coupling didn't help! I liked the Sinaisky even less! (Actually,not at all!) On the basis of Sarge's recommendations and some posts about recordings of the third on Amazon,I bought a copy of the Rajter s/h,some time ago. I think it is marvellous. The Jarvi and Sinaisky simply don't bear comparison. It seems to me that this symphony is very difficult to bring off in the recording studio. I am not a musician,but my ears (and brain) tell me what everyone else was saying in those Amazon posts......that Rajter has a unique understanding and feeling for this work. I also have no problem with the sound quality or the orchestra itself. I think it is very good,and less boomy than the Chandos recording;which is a tad over reverberant;which is wrong for this particular work. Rajtner makes it sound like a masterpiece;and I think it is,imho! It is also my favourite Schmidt symphony. I have now ordered a reasonable cheap s/h copy of the Fourth from a uk seller. Hopefully,I will eventually have them all! Meanwhile,some enterprising cd label really does need to look at reissuing these recordings.

[vandermolen]

• supported Hitler for "patriotic" reasons - the Anschluss - later repudiated the Nazi movement, but not before giving the Nazi salute at the premiere of his oratorio, The Book with Seven Seals
• His lifelong friend and colleague Oskar Adler, who fled the Nazis in 1938, wrote afterwards that Schmidt was never a Nazi and never anti-semitic but was extremely naïve about politics. Hans Keller gave similar endorsement. Regarding Schmidt's political naivety, Michael Steinberg, in his magisterial book, The Symphony, tells of Schmidt's recommending Variations on a Hebrew Theme by his student Israel Brandmann to a musical group associated with the proto-Nazi German National Party.
• His first wife - Karoline - went insane, was institutionalized in 1919, and was murdered by the Nazis in 1942 as part of their euthanasia program
• First child, Emma, dies in childbirth (Symphony No.4 dedicated to her)
• father was German, mother was Slovak - his first language was Hungarian
• feud with Mahler was never resolved
• his friends included Schreker and Joseph Marx, while Krenek, Berg and Schoenberg admired him
• like Brahms, a ruthless destroyer of works deemed unworthy - most of his juvenilia is lost
• told Herbert von Karajan he had no future as a conductor!   

Chamber Music
==============================
3 kleine Phantasiestücke nach ungarischen Nationalmelodien, for Cello and Piano, 1892;
String Quartet in A, 1925;
Piano Quintet in G, 1926;
String Quartet in G, 1929;
Quintet in Bb for clarinet, piano, violin, viola and cello, 1932;
Quintet in A, for clarinet, piano, violin, viola and cello, 1938

Organ works - Variationen und Fuge über ein eigenes Thema, D; Königsfanfaren, 1916; Phantasie und Fuge, D, 1923–4; Königsfanfaren, 1924; Toccata, C, 1924; Präludium und Fuge, E, 1924; Chaconne, c, 1925; Königsfanfaren, wind ad lib, 1925; 4 kleine Choralvorspiele, 1926; Fuge, F, 1927; Präludium und Fuge, C, 1927; 4 kleine Präludien und Fugen, 1928; Choralvorspiel zu Haydns 'Gott erhalte', wind ad lib, 1933; Choralvorspiel 'Der Heiland ist erstanden', wind ad lib, 1934; Präludium und fuge, A, 1934; Toccata und Fuge, A, 1935

Piano Sonata No.1 in E
Piano Sonata No.2, Op.7
Romance for Piano in A  (1922)
Toccata in d for left-hand (1938)

Orchestral - 4 symphonies; Konzertante Variationen über ein Thema von Beethoven, pf left hand, orch, 1923; Fuga solemnis, 16 wind, org, timp, 1937; Variationen über ein Husarenlied, 1930–31; Piano Concerto in E for left hand, 1934

Very interesting and ties in with what I thought about Franz Schmidt and his tragic life. Symphony 4 (Mehta) is my favourite. I've always rather admired Karl Amadeus Hartmann who, during the period of the Third Reich, banned the Nazi authorities from playing any of his music apart from his String Quartet based on Jewish themes, which struck me as incredibly heroic and dangerous. Needless to say his music went into something of an eclipse during the Third Reich.