Franz Schmidt: Symphonic Survey with Jonathan Berman and BBCNOW
David Truslove on Jonathan Berman's passion for the work of Austrian composer Franz Schmidt in a recording from BBC National Orchestra of Wales
David Truslove reflects on the creation of a distinctive sound world in a BBC National Orchestra of Wales recording of the symphonies of Franz Schmidt, under the guiding baton of Jonathan Berman.
No one can say the BBC National Orchestra of Wales is unadventurous. And certainly not in the recording studio where opportunities to perform seldom heard works are regularly explored. The orchestra’s most recent recording focuses on the Austrian composer Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) whose four symphonies were issued by Accentus Music in December 2023. Complete cycles of the works have been previously recorded, variously by Chandos, Deutsche Grammophon and Naxos, but this recent survey is the first by the Cardiff players, notwithstanding a digital release of the First Symphony in 2021. Rarely performed in the concert hall (only Schmidt’s Second and Fourth symphonies have made it to the BBC Proms), these superb accounts under the baton of Jonathan Berman deserve every consideration.
Berman’s passion for Schmidt's work arose from preparing a performance of his Fourth Symphony, and this recording (his CD debut) has been prompted by the anniversary of the composer’s upcoming 150th birthday. Champions of Schmidt (he has always been a cult figure) will be delighted by this, eager to hear beyond a pair of headphones the composer’s blend of surging romanticism and Baroque rigour. If his style suggests a shaking of hands between Richard Strauss and Max Reger, there’s much more to him than that loose parallel. Schmidt’s Symphony (1902) serves up a dish of late Romanticism owing as much to Mendelssohn, and some reheated Handel, as it does to Brahms and Bruckner, influences that also permeate his characterful Second Symphony (1911-1913). The Third (1928) brings echoes of Schubert in its tribute to the ‘Unfinished’, while the elegiac Fourth Symphony (1933) reveals a new intimacy, a new intensity. Cast in a single movement, it carries an afterglow of Strauss and Mahler.
It has been said that Schmidt’s symphonies are postcards from a collapsing culture, with the bleakly searching trumpet melody that bookends the Fourth a farewell not just to his daughter but to the form in general. Yet this symphonic traversal enables one to trace the curve of his creative development in what can be regarded as the genre’s dying embers. It has also been claimed that the symphonies lack the drama of a Brahms or a Mahler symphony. I am in no doubt of a certain uneven inspiration, particularly within the first three symphonies, but there is no denying the opulence of his orchestration, and the BBC NOW reveal this in all its glory.
His symphonies occupy a distinctive sound world all their own. Take, for example, those sinuous melodic contours, where tonality is stretched near to breaking point. And look no further than the wriggling worm of a theme that opens the ‘Adagio’ of the Third Symphony. Unsettling and sensuous in equal measure, its haunting beauty is played with demonstrable affection. There’s much to enjoy in the rustic ‘Scherzo’, Berman building on its rhythmic impetus to generate a movement both coquettish and charming, Schubert’s Vienna implicit. Nominally in the key of A major, the Third Symphony more often veers towards minor keys, the opening ‘Allegro molto moderato’ moving from unclouded vistas to something darker in its disturbing harmonic landscape. Accumulating drama may be absent, but there are some wonderful woodwind exchanges, and some well-judged climaxes. The finale is a somewhat sprawling affair, its unsmiling ‘Lento’ relieved by the ‘catch-me-if-you-can’ tempo of the succeeding ‘Allegro vivace’.
Melodic distinctions aside, there is Schmidt’s tendency to begin a movement cheerfully before darkening its edges. Such is the case with his Second Symphony, all pastoral sunshine at the start with its gurgling clarinet, before shadows take over and a climax redolent of Strauss emerges. Schmidt’s restless imagination is well served in this performance, everything nicely balanced; brass and timpani showing their mettle but never unnecessarily intruding, and strings keenly obliging at moments of ardent lyricism. Mounting tensions are well controlled too. A woodwind chorale sets in motion the variation form second movement where Schmidt’s extended ideas, at nearly twenty minutes, can strain the attention. But listen out for the strings soaring through a syrupy version of the opening theme - a gorgeous moment that recalls the ‘Intermezzo’ from his first opera Notre Dame. For the finale, Berman superbly shapes its rhetoric-grandeur arc, its eventual climax is well worth the wait, the brass wonderfully uplifting in a thrilling nod to Wagner.
Schmidt’s multiple musical personas are even more evident in his musically derivative First Symphony, where a stately introduction (some fine trumpet playing here) yields to a fully formed sonata allegro. Berman brings out its exuberance, underlining all the light and shade, perfectly judging when to relax or push forward and teasing out both the pomp and Mendelssohnian lyricism. The pastoral idyll that is the ‘Langsam’ movement unfolds with accumulating interest to reveal plush string tone, fireside warmth from the brass and some ear-catching woodwind. Elsewhere, the Scherzo is neat and tidy, its sugary ‘Trio’ enjoying some silky string playing, the players clearly revelling in the music’s exoticism. Regrettably, the pageantry of the finale outstays its welcome, notwithstanding fleet-footed strings and a rousing final furlong.
No such reservations about the Fourth Symphony, its novelty of form (an unbroken 46-minute span) and nobility of utterance surely make this Schmidt’s symphonic masterpiece. Berman never loses sight of the sense of mourning (the work was conceived as a kind of Requiem for his daughter) and, from the off, the playing is superbly refined, not least Phillipe Schartz’s flawless trumpet. Later, the plaintive violin theme – a love song if ever there was one – is delivered with wonderfully clean tone with nothing sentimental about it. Then there’s Alice Neary’s heart-easing cello that launches the ‘Adagio’ – its poignancy almost unbearable. Tensions build inexorably to some telling climaxes, the mood ultimately finding relief in the faux gaiety of the Scherzo. And still more impressive musicianship can be heard from Tim Thorpe’s horn.
Recorded between 2020 and 2022 at BBC Hoddinott Hall, these are detailed and involving performances where the dedication and enthusiasm from the players is palpable. Berman and his Cardiff team are serious advocates for this undervalued composer whose music here unfolds naturally and coheres into a persuasive cycle. Included in the survey are the Intermezzo and Carnival music from his opera Notre Dame. Excellent sound, and helpful booklet notes, this is a ‘must have’ for all devotees of this composer.
Franz Schmidt: The Symphonies, recorded by BBC National Orchestra for Wales is available now from Accentus Music.