PRE-ORDER: Das Buch Mit Sieben Siegeln [CD]

The oratorio The Book with Seven Seals is undoubtedly the most significant and best-known work by the Austrian composer Franz Schmidt. Composed between 1935 and 1937, it is, in the composer's own words, [...] the first attempt to set the Apocalypse to music in a coherent manner that has been undertaken to date, and accordingly sets to music-almost verbatim-the fifth chapter of the Revelation of John. One of the most acclaimed recordings of it's time, from 1976, was made by conductor Alois J. Hochstrasser, together with the Graz Concert Choir and the Lower Austrian Tonkunstler Orchestra. The vocal soloists were Anton Dermota (John) and Robert Holl (Voice of the Lord), alongside Margarita Kyriaki, Hertha Topper, Thomas Moser, and Artur Korn, as well as Rudolf Scholz, organ. This widely acclaimed recording is now receiving a well-deserved reissue through Gramola.