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Site review by Castor February 26, 2008
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
This is a compelling performance of what is generally and justifiably regarded to be one of the two greatest of Franz Schmidt’s works (the other being his 4th Symphony). ‘Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln’ (The Book with seven seals) is an ambitious setting of passages from the Revelation of St. John the Devine for soloists, chorus, organ and orchestra that Schmidt composed in 1937 towards the end of his life and was premiered in Vienna on June 15 1938.
Schmidt was born in 1874 in what is now Bratislava and for over fourteen years was principal cellist in the orchestra of the Vienna Court Opera under Mahler with whom he had a difficult working relationship. He was plagued by illness throughout his life, which made composition a struggle, and considered himself to be the last in a line of composers, stretching from Haydn and Schubert to Bruckner, upholding the Austrian catholic choral tradition. Unlike Mahler, his late-romantic musical language was essentially conservative, but in the work under discussion there are many passages of unusual and striking orchestration that are vividly realised in this recording.
In the fifty years since its composition ‘Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln’ has received, as far as I am aware, seven commercial recordings, all of them taped live and usually involving Austrian forces and/or conductors. This new Chandos set is no exception. It stems from two performances given in the Musikverein on 29th September and 2nd October 2005 that were recorded by Austrian Radio (ORF), and the engineers have been hugely successful in capturing the scale of the piece in sound quality that no earlier versions have equalled.
The very ‘live’ recording is not entirely free of platform and audience noises (there are some irritating coughs in, inevitably, the quietest passages, and applause at the end of both the first part of the work and its conclusion) but the engineers have, for the most part, kept them in the background.
The soloists are a very strong team indeed. Though Schmidt cast the major part of St. John as a heldentenor most versions wisely opt for a more lyrical voice in this taxing role. Here, Johannes Chum, a tenor more usually associated with roles in baroque works and Mozart operas, is entirely successful in communicating the different moods of both text and music. He sings his first long solo ‘’Und eine Tür ward aufgetan im Himmel’ with great sensitivity and a plaintive tone that he maintains right through his taxing role to the final bars of the work.
Robert Holl is equally impressive as The Voice of the Lord intoning ‘Ich bin das A und das O’. This work must hold a special place in his affection as he appears in no less than three of the earlier recordings.
The radiant and uplifting ‘Heilig, heilig ist Gott der Allmächtige’ that follows is sung with great fervour by an outstanding solo quartet while the entry of the chorus with the words ‘Herr, du bist würdig’ introduces us to the marvellous Weiner Singverein. This music is in their blood and it would be impossible to over-praise their commitment and full-bodied singing in, for example, the massive Bach-like chorale that precedes the opening of the first seal and the joyous chorus that follows.
The music now becomes more anguished as war is unleashed by the first horseman of the Apocalypse eventually reaching a gigantic climax in the orchestra complete with militaristic percussion in full cry. Famine follows and is represented by a duet between a mother and her starving daughter poignantly sung by soprano Sandra Trattnigg and alto Michelle Breedt. Next, one of the most striking passages in the whole works is introduced. Over eerie col legno strings, punctuated by a xylophone, a ghostly duet is sung by two survivors of war (the bass Manfred Hemm and the tenor Nikolai Schukoff) that brings to mind Britten’s setting of Wilfred Owen’s ‘Strange Meeting’ in his War Requiem. The first part of the work ends with Schmidt’s graphic depiction of earthquake and destruction as the sixth seal is opened.
The powerful organ solo that opens Part 2 makes a tremendous impact on this recording and contrasts marvellously with the consoling music, accompanying the opening of the seventh seal, that follows it. The work then progresses through depiction of the war in heaven to God’s punishment for all the sins of the world in music of the utmost dramatic power. Schmidt’s treatment of the text is at its most operatic in this part and it culminates in an ecstatic chorus praising God ‘Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Danket dem Herrn!’ In a real masterstroke Schmidt does not end his oratorio at this point, instead an unaccompanied male chorus quietly intone ‘ Wir danken dir, o Herr, allmächtiger Gott’ before St John pronounces a final benediction to the music of the work’s opening and the chorus sing a single cataclysmic ‘Amen!’
While not quite possessing the tonal allure of the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich is a very fine body of players and under the dynamic direction of their charismatic principal conductor Kristjan Järvi they do give a marvellous account of the score. As I have indicated, the recording has great presence and captures the atmosphere of the live event with outstanding realism. The documentation provided by Chandos is, as usual, excellent. The 87-page accompanying booklet has detailed and informative notes by Mervyn Cooke, full texts in German, English and French as well as biographies of the artists.
Of ‘Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln’ Schmidt wrote:
“ If my musical setting of this unparalleled work, which is as relevant today as it was at its creation eighteen and a half centuries ago, should succeed in bringing the hearer spiritually closer to it, then that will be my greatest reward.”
This new recording of Schmidt’s undoubted masterpiece does just that, and I recommend it most highly.
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Copyright © 2008 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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