Sym 4/Vars On A Hussars Song

This symphony should be better known. In my opinion, it's one of the great symphonies of the 20th century. Also one of the saddest, since it was composed after the death of Schmidt's beloved daughter, who died giving birth. It's by way of being a requiem for her. The first movement is chromatic and turbulent, rising to a truly shattering climax. The second begins and ends with a beautifully lamenting cello solo (the composer had been a cellist in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra). The middle section is a funeral march, again reaching another devastating climax. In the third movement (scherzo) he seems to portray a desperate attempt to return to "normal" activity, but interrupted by the persisitent intrusion of material from the previous movements, ending in a complete collapse. The final movement returns to the first, completing the circle with the trumpet solo that began the work, ending with the finality of grief that can never be healed.

The symphony is superbly played by the LSO under the baton of Welser-most. It'd hard to see how this performance could be improved on. Perhaps their task is made easier by Scmidt's masterly orchestration.

Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in tonal 20th century music.

There's no doubt in my mind that Franz Schmidt's Symphony No. 4 of 1933 is a true masterpiece of Late Romantic expression; its incredible inspiration draws from personal tragedy (death of the composer's adult daughter) and manifests itself in a most exquisite extended interweaving of unbroken melodic and harmonic lines across four uninterrupted movements. My sole recording till this one was that of the Vienna Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. In my review of that recording, I stated: "I've yet to hear another recording of this work...the presumptuous feeling here is it really isn't necessary as conductor Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic convey the full measure of this work and the warm, early '70s analog recording is exemplary." After hearing this fine Gramophone Award-winning release from Franz Welser-Möst and the London Philharmonic, my feelings remain unchanged as I don't think there's much to choose between the two, other than perhaps the couplings. I see the Mehta is also available coupled with his acclaimed recording of the Mahler Resurrection Symphony.

Welser-Möst/LPO certainly deserve a great deal of credit for their dedicated and committed performance here. Even though their timings come in considerably faster than Mehta/VPO, the overall impression is hardly one of speed and haste; the extended lines are held expressively taut throughout with fine ensemble and dynamic balance. If the Mehta perhaps offers up a bit more bittersweet languor and lush playing, Welser-Möst and the LPO still invest the work with that necessary tinge of heavyhearted optimism to underlie the tragedy - in my opinion, so important to a successful performance of this lengthy, unbroken expression. Both recordings are thoroughly recommendable.

As to the fill-up here, Variations on a Hussar's Song is a mostly delightful and contrasting multi-part makeweight in a somewhat similar idiom; it's probably a worthy listen for the dedicated initiate into the music of Schmidt.

Schmidt: Symphony No. 4 / Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1
Mahler: Symphony No.2/ Schmidt: Symphony No.4

This symphony is magnificent, truly one of the most under-appreciated compositions of the twentieth century. Recalling the lyricism of Franz Schubert, the stolid resignation of Anton Bruckner and the majesty of Gustav Mahler, the piece is nevertheless distinctive in the manner by which it manifests its haunting, deeply spiritual and brooding nature. Steeped in intense anger and regret, the music is as much a harbinger of universal disaster and strife as it is a requiem for one individual, the composer's beloved daughter. Although written in 1933 as "a requiem" for her, the symphony's longing and anguish evoke the late Romantic period of 1914-18, after the Great War and the worst pandemic in history had put millions of men and women in their graves all over Europe.

The first movement opens with a troubled call in the solo trumpet, quickly followed by a vaunted Brucknerian motif in the strings, incited by unrelenting tympani, that quickly builds to a climax. The music becomes edgy, agitated, aggressively chromatic, with the upper stings, interspersed with woodwind accompaniment, unable to find respite. The opening trumpet phrase is echoed dolefully in the higher timbre of the violins. A horn call, followed by a yet another repetition of the trumpet theme, this time in the lonesome cor anglais, gives a moment's reprieve before the busy violins return, as if in some mad search for something lost. After another short climax, the music is shrouded in nocturnal mystery, reminiscent of the middle movements of the Seventh Symphony of Mahler. The opening trumpet idea shatters and dwindles down into the lower depths of the orchestra. Just then, a lone cello, Schmidt's own instrument, announces the theme of the second movement adagio, an arching, sorrow-laden hymn soon taken up by all the strings, and then the oboe and the clarinet. Schmidt's method of development here is to stretch and invert his material, setting fragment against fragment, letting the cello's theme fold back on itself in polyphonic permutations, as it haltingly languishes all the while in its own heart-wrenching grief. Finally, like a mourner overcome by loss, the music cries out loudly with impotent anger, racked by horror, only to fall back slowly, prostrate and weak. Eventually, the solo cello returns, the music lifted heavenward with the aid of the woodwinds.

Without interruption, a fugal march in the dark key of Bb minor begins the third movement scherzo. The mood of the preceding two sections changes, as babbling woodwinds and an alternately jaunty and lilting motif in the strings give the feel of a luminous meadow at high summer. Slowly, however, the vivacity becomes weighted down, as motives from the earlier movements encroach and intermingle harmonically with the cheerful progress. Is this, after all, a funeral march? A dramatic orchestral crescendo, culminating in a gong and cymbal crash, ends all trace of merriment. The solo horn reprieves the opening trumpet call. A short brass chorale, supported by rhythmic pulses in the tympani and basses, is followed once more by the second subject of the first movement, played in the upper stings. The pathos that dominates the symphony's outset is established irrevocably. After fleeting last gasps of twisting rage, the work concludes ingeniously in what has been described as a "reverse climax." The unforgiving opening theme is recapitulated and then fades to nothing as the lone trumpet utters a forlorn C, the central tonality of the entire symphony.

I have always found this performance to be well played. The dark timbre I associate with the London Philharmonic works especially well in this saturnine piece. Welser-Most never lets the thick symphonic texture become clotted. He carefully delineates individual parts, excelling particularly in the busily scored scherzo. The strings of the London Philharmonic are powerful, lush and full, and the violins soar with crystalline beauty. The playing of Robert Truman, the cello soloist in the second movement adagio, will move you to tears. The brass and woodwinds are first rate. On their part, the recording engineers do an excellent job in delivering a clean, unadulterated sound at every moment.

My quibble with this recording concerns the tempi the conductor chooses. They are consistently too fast. I first learned this symphony by listening to Zubin Mehta's rendition with the Vienna Philharmonic. His slower pace gives the music more time to rummage through its depths, to fulminate, to dance with false delight and disintegrate with ferocity. By contrast, Welser-Most faster speed causes the music to come across as a bit too mild, a trifle bland. He does not feel the concentrated sorrow and pain in this symphony to the degree that Mehta does. While he gives a very beautiful performance, he does not capture fully the angst and tragedy. For that, you will need to buy the Mehta.

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