Symfonie Nr 3 (1991)

"A German and an Austrian expressing community with their cultural heritage. Hindemith's 1925 back-to-the-baroque concerto is a defiantly anti-romantic, short, sharp shocker. Schmidt harks back nostalgically to the previous century with all those lovely 'bad habits' of the late romantics. Ostensibly written 'in the spirit of Schubert', it is a Schubert distantly glimpsed through a haze of harmonic complexity. Schmidt's only concession to early 19th century procedures was the use (for him) of a surprisingly modest orchestra. One that, paradoxically, is probably smaller than Hindemith's. Schmidt's symphony is as apparently effusive as Hindemith's Concerto is terse. Brahms and Bruckner (and R. Strauss, in this performance) are recalled more than Schubert, and, of course, Bach: the orchestral blend and slow moving bass lines often seem imagined from the organ loft. Neeme Jarvi's is the finest recording to date. The Chicago orchestra are on good form. A rewarding coupling." (John Steane, Gramophone)