Search - Franz Schmidt, Fabio Luisi, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra :: Schmidt: Sinfonie No. 3

Great composer, great music, great performance

JJA Kiefte | Tegelen, Nederland | 03/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the towering figures of 20th Century classical music to me is Franz Schmidt whose relatively small number of works is of a very high quality. In the course of forty years he wrote only two operas, four symphonies, two piano concertos (both for the left hand), some organ works and some chamber music. The most famous composition is undoubtedly the dramatic 1934 4th symphony (an instrumental requiem to his daughter); this preceding symphonic work dates from 1926 and is much lighter in tone, but texturally and tonally certainly a much greater challenge to the ear, as Schmidt expertly uses baroque polyphony in late-romantic dress. The 1st movement sounds as a Schubertian allegro but the 2nd movement is very ambiguous in its romantic mood (in places it sounds very eery); the Ländler type scherzo is taken at a brisk pace and the 4th movement is a broadly orchestrated choral, followed by a briskly paced coda with a tremendous climax, trombones leading in downward cascading triplets.

Compared to the one of the other two available versions (by Ludovit Rajter, one of Schmidt's composition students!) recorded in 1987 with the Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra, Luisi's choise of tempos is ideal and his attention to detail and clarity make this a great performance.

If you like classical forms in tonally ambiguous (but not a-tonal)disguise then this is a very worth while discovery."