I have recently been exploring more from Austrian composer Franz Schmidt, mostly orchestral and chamber music.
The composer loves chromaticism. Sometimes his music hits with me, and sometimes it misses. With his 90+ minute oratorio, it mostly hits.
It is a rather long affair, but it mixes things up with solos, choruses, and organ solos. The opening has some lovely pastoral settings, but once the seals start opening up, than the work really start going. There is still quite a bit of music after all of the dramatic business too, so you have to be in it for the long haul.
There are a number of recordings, nonetheless from such past masters as Dmitri Mitropoulos and Horst Stein, as well as some recent recordings of the past few decades. I have held onto this Franz Welser-Most with the Bavarian RSO, and couldn't be happier.
A choral oratorio based on The Book of Revelations you say? The Revelation of St. John the Divine with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Hayyoth, and other creatures set to music? That’s the one, and it really is a colourful, powerful 20th Century musical work.
German composer Franz Schmidt is perhaps best known for his four Symphonies, big Romantic compositions that were a little old-fashioned for their time, but are well worth knowing. He writes in a wholly approachable manner, and his use of chromaticisms only enhance the moods, for he always bursts out of any murky chaos he creates. Here, Schmidt increases the modernism as the work chugs along, creating pent-up drama, but anything confounding always lands satisfyingly. ‘Das Buch’ is a sort-of Mahler symphony meets a Mendelssohn oratorio, and it is really quite interesting.
The main attraction of The Book With Seven Seals are the titular sequences where the seals of the book are opened, calling forth the Horsemen individually, rending the Earth, and the mighty battle between the armies of Heaven and the evil Serpent. Yet, the opening has some wonderfully pastoral moments that return often, and the whole work is essentially a recounting of St. John of his vision, which opens and closes thusly; the man and his message. Really well structured.
Schmidt calls for a heldentenor in the lead, an aspect missing in some other recordings of this work, as well as five more soloists, a large chorus, and orchestra. Suffice to say the proportions are epic and Schmidt delivers with some dramatic portraits and characterful music making. And yet, there are melodies to enjoy, rhythmic ideas to carry the visuals, and the mighty presence of a pipe organ which gets a spotlight amidst the singing.
Franz Welser-Möst’s recording from the late 90’s is a strong one. The Bavarian forces are thrilling; the choral parts are well heard, the orchestra is full and lustrous, and the impact of the sound is solid. Welser-Möst really has the full measure of this music and he has these groups performing incisively, for the climaxes are striking, the moments of repose are quite beautiful, and the tempos chug along with purpose and intent. Really, quite superb all around.
The soloists are all quite fine as well. Stig Andersen’s wide-ranging, Wagnerian heldentenor has strength in the role of St. John, although his tone is a bit wild. The others, including René Pape as the Voice of God, are all confident and they sing together quite well. The harrowing organ solo seems well done too and the sonics certainly do good work with all of these forces fighting for space. The live recording yields no extraneous noises that I could pick up.
There are a handful of recordings of Schmidt’s The Book With Seven Seals, but I think this EMI recording still sounds excellent, and the performances are fantastic. Harnoncourt with the VPO on Teldec, also live, comes in 10-minutes slower than this one, so Welser-Möst is certainly snappier, and Horst Stein on Profil also has the Vienna Philharmonic on hand, but I am not as enraptured with that recording.
Many lash out at Franz Welser-Möst for being a bit dry or merely going through the motions, but I don’t sense that at all here, and the performers are out for dramatic glory. If you are unfamiliar with this work, and you like large dramatic oratorios, find this work regardless. This reissue as a slimline on EMI Gemini has adequate notes, but no texts are included. If that is a deal breaker, the original release on EMI, has a hefty amount of liner notes, including the ones from Franz Schmidt, and all of the song texts, but in a double-wide jewel case.
Listen on YouTube
Works
Book with the Seven Seals
Part I (61.01)
Part II (45.47
Soloists
Christina Oelze, soprano
Cornelia Kallisch, alto
Stig Anderson, tenor
Lothar Odinius, tenor
René Pape, bass
Alfred Reiter, bass
Friedemann Winklhofer, organ
Ensemble
Bavarian Radio Choir
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Label: EMI
Year: 1998 / 2004
Total Timing: 1.46.48
This is definitely a work to be heard.
There are a number of recordings to choose from. This one suits me just fine.
Find more Franz Schmidt recordings HERE!
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