SCHMIDT: Symphony No. 2 etc. (Sony 88985355522)

THE members of the Vienna Philharmonic were born to play this music, and are in prime form. Franz Schmidt wrote the sort of Late Romantic works we also hear from Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. Under Semyon Bychkov’s inspired baton, the playing glows and the three movements of the 1913 Second Symphony seem to pass in a flash. The central movement is a set of variations on a beautiful theme and Schmidt makes the final two variations into a Scherzo and Trio, just one aspect of his mastery. The quality of the recordings is first rate — a lovely disc.