Artist(s): Schmid, Benjamin
Label: Gramola Records
Genre: Concerto; Orchestral
Period: 20th Century; Contemporary
Catalogue No: Gramola99350
Barcode: 9003643993501
Release Date: 03/2026

KREISLER, F. / BREINSCHMID, G.: Violin Concertos (Schmid, Vienna Radio Symphony, Salzburg Wind Philharmonic, Aichner, Angerer)

On the occasion of the 2025 Kreisler anniversary year, the exceptional violinist Benjamin Schmid posed the question: What happens for the violin in Vienna roughly 100 years after Fritz Kreisler? The result is this phenomenal recording with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna under Lorenz Aichner, featuring orchestrated works by Kreisler and the world premiere recording of the “Concerto for Beni for Solo Violin and String Orchestra” (2023) by Georg Breinschmid, born in Vienna in 1973. To quote the dedicatee, it is a “magnificent violin concerto that, from my perspective, shares much with the musical understanding of Fritz Kreisler: music with unadulterated joy of playing, which devotes itself immediately and as artfully as possible to the parameters of melody, harmonic experience, and dance-like (or groovy) rhythm. There is always a close relationship to instrumental virtuosity and sonority – something very strongly pronounced in both composers. The album includes Fritz Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro “in the Style of Pugnani” and the “Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta” in arrangements for (string) orchestra. Kreisler’s “Concerto in One Movement”, based on the first movement of Paganini’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 6, is presented here in an arrangement for wind orchestra, recorded with the Salzburg Wind Philharmonic under Hansjörg Angerer.

Tracklist

Kreisler, Fritz
Webber, John - Arranger
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
1 Praeludium 02:30
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
2 Allegro 03:14
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
Breinschmid, Georg
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
3 I. Allegro moderato 06:27
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
4 II. Andante con moto 08:14
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
5 III. Allegro scherzando 07:49
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
6 IV. Allegro vivace 04:59
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
Kreisler, Fritz
Ehrenfellner, Christoph - Arranger
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
7 Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta (arr. C. Ehrenfellner for violin and orchestra) 08:20
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Aichner, Lorenz C. (Conductor)
Kreisler, Fritz
Schwarzmann, Albert - Arranger
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Salzburg Wind Philharmonic (Orchestra)
Angerer, Hansjörg (Conductor)
8 Allegro maestoso - 07:22
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Salzburg Wind Philharmonic (Orchestra)
Angerer, Hansjörg (Conductor)
9 A tempo poco meno mosso e molto tranquillo - 06:29
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Salzburg Wind Philharmonic (Orchestra)
Angerer, Hansjörg (Conductor)
10 Cadenza 03:44
Schmid, Benjamin (violin)
Salzburg Wind Philharmonic (Orchestra)
Angerer, Hansjörg (Conductor)

Total Playing Time: 59:08