Franz Schmidt was an inconsistent composer. The symphony, on the other hand, is a masterpiece, and it has been well treated on disc.
Schmidt wrote four symphonies, Variations on a Theme of Beethoven for piano left hand and orchestra and a piano concerto for the left hand, these last, with various chamber works, for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, brother of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in the 1914-1918 war.
Schmidt wrote four symphonies, Variations on a Theme of Beethoven for piano left hand and orchestra and a piano concerto for the left hand, these last, with various chamber works, for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, brother of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in the 1914-1918 war.
