Austrian composer and teacher Franz Schmidt was a direct descendant of the style of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and one of his teachers, Anton Bruckner. Rather than follow the twelve-tone trend of composition pioneered by Arnold Schoenberg and other contemporaries, Schmidt continued to utilize traditional harmonies and structural forms. His music is filled with lyrical melodies and an extreme chromaticism that never destroys the tonal center. The result is an almost classically hyper-Romanticism: passionate and emotional yet never as overtly manic as Gustav Mahler.

The Symphony No. 3, in fact, could be considered a tribute to that lineage. Schmidt entered it in a competition commemorating the centenary of Schubert's death. The prize would go to the best new orchestral work written "in the spirit of Schubert." The piece has a serenity and nobility that is akin to Bruckner with less of the impetuosity one associates with Richard Strauss. The first movement Allegro molto moderato, is harmonically complex with soaring melodies over a thick orchestration. The Adagio is even richer in its use of harmonies, stretching tonal boundaries to heighten the emotional landscape. The playful Scherzo: Allegro vivace, is distinguished by a repetitive rhythmic figure, contrasted with a lyrically lush trio section. The Lento-Allegro vivace begins with a Brucknerian chorale, which leads into a robust, dance-like finale. While by no means a mover or a shaker, Schmidt can be viewed as a defender of an older tradition, battling against the onslaught of Schoenberg's serialism.

© Mona DeQuis, Rovi