Steve Schwartz reviewed: > Franz Schmidt >Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln > >Bavarian Radio Chorus and Orchestra/Franz Welser-Moest >EMI ZDCB 7243 5 56660 2 Total time: 61:01 + 45:47 I share Steve's enthusiasm for this magnificent work, and I agree completely with his positive review of the recent Welser-Most recording on EMI--get it while you can. Contrary to Steve's suspicion, there have been a number of CD recordings of Das Buch. The historic Mitropolous/Vienna Philharmonic has been remastered on Sony, but it (and the work, alas) suffer from constricted mono sound. This is a major disadvantage in this work, which uses such huge choral and orchestral forces. And the performance, while exciting, is pretty scrappy. Other digital CDs include the fairly recent Horst Stein/Vienna Symphony recording released on Calig. A live performance, it is in some ways-- chorus execution, orchestral playing and recording quality--an improvement on the excellent Welser-Most. Most unfortunately, the performance is rendered totally unacceptable by the St. John of tenor Eberhart Wachter. Herr Wachter compensates for his natural pinched, nasal quality by using what can only be described as a quasi Sprechstimme--yelping and barking the demanding parts he cannot sing. Painful. Avoid, in my opinion. The Orfeo CD features the St. John of Peter Schreier and the Vienna State Opera Chorus and Vienna Radio Orchestra, with Lothar Zagrosek conducting. Schreier is an interesting choice for St. John--he's no Heldentenor, but is musician enough to almost convince you. Unfortunately, the digital recording is super reverberant, blurring much of the massed choral/orchestral sound into a featureless mush. The Preiser CD (stereo, analog) features the St. John of Anton Dermota, who sang the "other" tenor solos in the 1938 premiere! The Graz Concert Choir and the Lower Austrian Tonkunstler Orchestra acquit themselves with no great distinction. Hardest to find, but in someways the most compelling, is the Philips/Amadeo CD (stereo, analog) which is a very hard to find import. Some Austrian shops can provide it, with luck. Worth hunting for, it showcases the incredible St. John--far and away the most compelling St. John committed to records--of the great Julius Patzak. He was in his early 60s at the time of the recording (1961), but shows only occasional strain in the herculean tenor part. And what an interpretation! Every word from the Book of Revelation [no "s", please, Steve] is caressed and declaimed, while sung beautifully and with utter sincerity and conviction by Herr Patzak. One of the great recorded performances of the 20th century, IMO. The choir is once again the Graz Concert Choir, this time with the Munich Philharmonic under Anton Lippe. This is the same recording in acceptable, if unspectacular analog stereo, once released on vinyl disc by the good folks at MHS. If they could only be persuaded to resurrect this for a domestic CD release! Still on the topic of Schmidt, I would like to put in a plug for the other late masterpiece from this composer, his Symphony No. 4. There are a number of good recordings of this, including the Mehta/VPO on Decca/London and the Welser-Most on EMI. But the finest recording--and interpretation--is the Martin Sieghart/Bruckner Orchestra of Linz on Chesky. That magnificent disc should be in the library of anyone who has an affinity for the late Romantic/post Romantic Austrian symphony repertory. Regards, John M. Proffitt General Manager & C.E.O. Radio Station KUHF-FM