Franz Schmidt - Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (Franz Welser-Möst)

Information

Composer: Franz Schmidt

• Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln

Stig Andersen; René Pape

Christiane Oelze; Cornelia Kallisch; Lothar Odinius

Alfred Reiter; Friedemann Winklhofer

Bavarian Radio Chorus / Michael Gläser, chorusmaster

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Date: 1998

Label: EMI

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Review

Franz Welser-Most’s recording of the Schmidt Fourth Symphony and the Variations on a Hussar’s Song (EMI, 1/96) won a Gramophone Award two years ago – and deservedly so. In it he showed complete sympathy with Schmidt’s world and sensibility, and so it is only natural that he should now turn to what many admirers consider Schmidt’s masterpiece, Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (“The Book with Seven Seals”). It was immediately after finishing the Fourth Symphony that Schmidt turned to the last book of the New Testament, the Revelation of St John the Divine, for his text. The score occupied him during 1935-7 and was first given at the Grossersaal of the Vienna Singverein in June 1938, only a year before his death. Along with Wilhelm Sinkovitz’s notes, the EMI booklet reproduces Schmidt’s own commentary on the work included in the 1938 programme-booklet.

There are already four rival versions available. As I said when reviewing the Calig release under Horst Stein, nobility shines through almost every bar of the score – mind you, one can say this of almost everything Schmidt wrote. The Mitropoulos recording which derives from a performance at the 1959 Salzburg Festival falls into a special category and even if some collectors may hesitate at the prospect of a mono recording nearly 40 years old, it has the authority of Anton Dermota – who had taken part in the 1938 premiere – as the Evangelist, as well as the inspired direction of Mitropoulos. As I said at the time, this performance seems to me “to sing with a special fervour” and should not be overlooked.

However, this new recording sees off the rest of the competition listed above with ease. DJF wrote appreciatively of Schreier on the Zagrosek recording but was less convinced by the other singers, and although I found much to admire in the Calig recording under Horst Stein, who also conducts with dedication and sympathy, I thought the recording “by no means state-of-the-art”, with a texture wanting in freshness and transparency and needing a deeper front-to-back perspective. The new Munich recording offers much finer sound, and a performance of great commitment and grandeur. Schmidt portrays John as a young man and apparently wished to have a Heldentenor rather than a lyric tenor sing the role, and this is observed here. The singing throughout is of impressive quality from all concerned – and in particular Stig Andersen – and the sensitive orchestral response leaves no doubt of all the artists’ belief in this visionary and often inspired work. On almost every count this new Bavarian performance does justice to Schmidt’s masterpiece. The technical balance of the recording has been most expertly and musically done. Readers who have been impressed by the Schmidt symphonies and in particular Welser-Most’s Fourth need not – and should not – hesitate.

— Robert Layton

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Franz Schmidt (22 December 1874 – 11 February 1939) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. A piano student of Theodor Leschetizky and a composition pupil of Anton Bruckner, he began his career as a cellist with the Vienna Court Opera, where he experienced professional tensions with Gustav Mahler. Schmidt later taught composition at the Vienna Staatsakademie and served as director of the Musikhochschule (1927–31). His music, sometimes compared to Max Reger, includes the opera Notre Dame, the oratorio Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln, four symphonies, left-hand works for Paul Wittgenstein, and organ works.

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Franz Welser-Möst (born 16 August 1960) is an Austrian conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin, but switched to full-time conducting after a car crash. He has served as the principal conductor and music director of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (1986–91), the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1990–96), the Zürich Opera (2005–08), and Vienna State Opera (2010–14). Since 2002, Welser-Möst has been music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, with his most recent contract extension is through the 2026–27 season. He has recorded for EMI, Deutsche Grammophon and the Cleveland Orchestra's in-house label.

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