From ⁠The Nia Centre ⁠in Hulme, Jonathan Berman talks us through The Franz Schmidt project in which he is recording all four of Schmidt’s symphonies with the ⁠BBC National Orchestra of Wales (NOW)⁠, leading to the composer’s 150th Birthday in 2024.

In this episode we discuss:

• His motivation behind The Franz Schmidt Project
• Schmidt’s work and his natural gifts
• The challenges of interpreting Schmidt’s scores
• The advantage of musical literacy
• Working with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
• How Jonathan sets up his orchestra
• Microphone choices and techniques for recording
• Manipulating the acoustics of venues
• Controlling the dynamics of the orchestra
• Why the performance is broken down into sections when recording
• The different mindsets required for live performance vs recording
• How important the live experience is to Classical Music
• Jonathan’s favourite venues

Listen to Jonathan’s recording of Schmidt’s Symphony No. 1 in E Major on ⁠Spotify⁠

Follow Jonathan on ⁠Instagram⁠ and discover more about him and the Franz Schmidt Project on his ⁠website⁠.

For more episodes of the High Point podcast, follow⁠⁠⁠ this link⁠⁠⁠.

or ⁠⁠⁠this one for Youtube⁠⁠⁠.