Franz Schmidt Symphonies 1-4 (P.Järvi)

[ewk]

Hi all,

I just found this on the Facebook page of the HR-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony):
https://www.facebook.com/hrsinfonieorchester/photos/a.456174131103467.107019.436311013089779/1257171501003722/?type=3&theater

Paavo Järvi hat es in der ,,alten Heimat" so gut gefallen, dass unser ,,Conductor laureate" gleich noch ein paar Tage länger in Frankfurt geblieben ist, um mit uns in dieser Woche die 1. Sinfonie Franz Schmidts für eine geplante CD mit allen vier Sinfonien dieses leider immer noch viel zu wenig bekannten österreichisch-ungarischen Spätromantikers aufzunehmen

Which translates more or less as follows:

Paavo Järvi liked it so much in his "old home" that our "conductor laureate" has stayed some more days in Frankfurt in order to record the First Symphony by Franz Schmidt for a planned CD with all four Symphonies of this still far too unsung Austro-Hungarian composer.

(the post dates from today, 3 hours ago).

I did not find a discussion about this at this forum (neither an announcement of the CD somewhere else, at least with a quick google search) and thought that it might interest some of you...

I am really looking forward to hear Paavo Järvi's recording of these magnificient symphonies!

ewk

[Alan Howe]

that our "conductor laureate" will stay some more days in Frankfurt

No, it should read: 'that our "conductor laureate" stayed in Frankfurt a few more days' - past tense. That's even better because it means that the recording's already been made!

[MartinH]

Yippee! Like father like son. 40 years ago the only symphony you could easily listen to was the 4th. Who could've imagined that we'd have five complete cycles of all four? Not to mention almost a dozen recordings of Das Buch? This is great news.

[Alan Howe]

...a September release from DG (no less), with Paavo Järvi conducting the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/franz-schmidt-symphonien-nr-1-4/hnum/9900063

[hyperdanny]

wow ..very prestigious release for Schmidt!
I'm not usually a great fan of Paavo, often I find him a little cold , but his tendentially "objective" way with music can probably benefit greatly some of the most florid symphonies , like 1&2..

[Alan Howe]

You can sample his very fine performance of the 4th Symphony here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fjFPhrKjw

This may not be good news for the Berman/BBCNOW project, although one hopes the latter will be equally good - and cover more ground.

[brendangcarroll]

A must have for me. All recordings of Schmidt are welcome - he needs attention.

How I wish some recordings of Schmidt playing the piano might surface one day. He was apparently incredible and he broadcast often over Austrian Radio in the 30s but never made any commercial recordings.

[jasthill]

He seems to be duplicating a lot of his Daddy's repertory. Neeme's Schmidt cycle is split between the Chicago and Detroit Symphony Orchestras on Chandos - if you get them individually you get various Richard Strauss add-ons.  If you get the box - just the symphonies.  Maybe Paavo could finish out Neeme's attempt at the Maximilian Steinberg Symphonies - Nos 3 - 4 - 5.  Just like his père, Paavo seems to be pretty adventurous. I would not mind some Nikolai Tcherepnin (don't forget Tàti-Tàti), Jāzeps Vītols, or even the fake Nikolai Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky symphony.

[Alan Howe]

Paavo isn't a clone of his father, so it's surely irrelevant that he too is recording these great symphonies a quarter of a century later.

[Mykulh]

Is this a Deutsche Grammophon release? How many CDs are in the set?

[Alan Howe]

Yes, Mike, it's on Deutsche Grammophon. The jpc listing doesn't say how many CDs there will be, though.

[MartinH]

Very welcome although I am surprised Petrenko with Berlin didn't do it. That 4th from a couple of seasons ago was terrific.

[Alan Howe]

Most significant to me is that this is a DG release, rather than RCA for whom PJ has done most of his recent work (e.g. Bruckner, Nielsen, Sibelius).

[Alan Howe]

[alberto]

The Fourth with Kirill Petrenko and the BPO was released in a limited edition of one thousand copies on the BPO label.