Franz Schmidt - Symphony No. 1; Excerpts from Notre Dame (Vassily Sinaisky)

Information

Composer: Franz Schmidt

• Symphony No. 1 in E major
• Notre Dame – Opera, Op. 2 (Orchestral excerpts, Act 1)

Malmö Symphony Orchestra

Vassily Sinaisky, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: Naxos

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

Despite some celebrated past recordings, including Mehta’s of the Fourth Symphony (nla) with the Vienna Philharmonic (in which Schmidt played cello for many years) and Neeme Järvi’s exhilarating cycle (Chandos), Franz Schmidt’s symphonies have never quite made it into the musical premier league. It is not through lack of championship (most recently by Fabio Luisi on Querstand) nor the quality of the works themselves, which is of the highest order.

The quality of Schmidt’s music is demonstrated here by the least of his four symphonies, the prize-winning First (1899). Its four expansive movements play for some 45 minutes, the essential qualities of Schmidt’s style evident in every bar: attractive melodies in appealing late-Romantic (but not overdone) harmonies with plentiful contrapuntal interest. If not possessing its successors’ structural subtleties, the First is a well made and more satisfying whole than many better-known works. True, there are traces of Brahms, Bruckner and Wagner (and even foreshadowings of Elgarian nobilmente in the finale), but Schmidt’s own voice shines through.

So it does in the splendid extracts from the first act of his opera Notre Dame (1902-04), of which the Intermezzo (billed on the back cover bizarrely as “Interlude”) shows the lyrical Hungarian side of Schmidt’s musical personality to radiant effect. Sinaisky directs searching accounts of the works here and the Malmö players relish the task of tackling repertoire put on the map by the erstwhile director of their Gothenburg rivals along the Swedish coast. Järvi’s Detroit accounts remain the strongest (Chandos’s sound suited the idiom better) but for those unfamiliar with Schmidt this newcomer makes a fine introduction.

— Guy Rickards

-----------------------------------------------------------

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.

***

Vassily Sinaisky (born 20 April 1947) is a Russian conductor. Trained at the Leningrad Conservatory, he began his career assisting Kirill Kondrashin at the Moscow Philharmonic. He gained international reputation after winning the Gold Medal at the Herbert von Karajan Competition in 1973. Sinaisky has held prominent leadership roles, including Chief Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Moscow Philharmonic and the Bolshoi Theatre. He has also collaborated with leading orchestras worldwide and produced acclaimed recordings. He teaches at the St Petersburg Conservatoire.

-----------------------------------------------------------