Writing in The Symphony (ed. Robert Simpson, Penguin Books: 1967) the late Harold Truscott made out a strong case for Franz Schmidt. He robustly dismissed the notion that his music does not travel. “It ‘travels’ very well, when allowed to do so, and I will go so far as to say that anyone who claims a love and understanding of Beethoven, Brahms or Sibelius, should have no difficulty with Schmidt. There could,” he went on, “scarcely be a more positive work than No. 4, whose confidence is complete and without bombast” and it is obvious that Schmidt’s mastery of the art of symphonic thinking and of the orchestra is everywhere in evidence. The symphony is in one unbroken span whose material derives from the haunting opening 21-bar theme on solo trumpet – in itself an idea of remarkable originality. Unlike Reger, whose influence can at times be clearly heard, Schmidt was a late developer and far from prolific. Indeed apart from the four symphonies, there is only one other orchestral work, the Variations on a Hussar’s Song recorded here. For those who have never encountered his music, it is perhaps best if loosely described as rich in palette, in much the same way as Elgar, chromatic in its harmonic language yet never cloying, and above all it has an innate nobility, an elegiac dignity of utterance and a sense of vision. Not without reason did Truscott call Schmidt the “only real successor to Bruckner – in so far as there is one at all”.
Neither the Fourth Symphony nor the Variations are new to the catalogue: Mehta’s 1971 recording of the symphony was recently restored to circulation in harness with his Mahler Second – and it is one of his better performances. Hans Bauer’s account of the Variations with the New Philharmonia (EMI, 4/87) is no longer in the catalogue. But in any event his new version supersedes them both. Welser-Most shows great feeling for and sympathy with this music and carries his fine players with him. Theirs is playing of eloquence and dedication, and the recording team produce truthful and well-detailed sound. Strongly recommended.'