Symphony No. 1 / Notre Dame

Franz Schmidt's finely crafted Symphony No. 1, grandiose in scale and optimistic in
mood, recalls the masterpieces of other great Romantic composers, Brahms, Bruckner
and Reger, and won the Beethoven Prize in 1900. His opera Notre Dame, based on
Victor Hugo's novel, was first staged in Vienna in 1914, and won him an international
reputation. Under Vassily Sinaisky the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, whose other
Naxos recordings have been highly praised, makes a strong case for the revival of
Schmidt's strangely neglected, yet sumptuous and deeply satisfying music.