Mozart Concertos K 216, 218, 219 recorded 2022 with Orchestra Musica Vitae, Release Austria oct 2023, International feb 2024 "brilliant technique and luminous tone, esprit and sensitivity", Falter Magazine, Vienna 2/2024
3 Violinconcertos from Austria, by Friedrich Gulda, Herbert Berger and Sabina Hank. Great composing, lots of improvisation. review by Nick Barnard/ Musicweb-international.com “Recommended”: Now I have another favourite player, the wonderful Benjamin Schmid turning his hand to three “Jazz Violin Concertos” This Schmid disc is a triumph from first to last. My response is no doubt in part due to a greater personal affinity for the jazz idiom, but I also feel that the actual compositions offered here ‘work’ better. Schmid not only plays but also directs the Swedish group Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra of which he has been Artistic Director since the 2020/21 season. A group photograph on the liner booklet shows fourteen players plus Schmid of whom I assume one is kit drummer Christian Lettner. The playing of this ensemble – which I had not heard before – is simply phenomenal; easily virtuosic for sure but also wholly idiomatic and Schmid in his liner note rightly praises the superb artistic collaboration between him and the ensemble. None of the works offered here are newly composed and Schmid reveals in the same liner that he has been playing some of them for over twenty years. So this is music completely embedded in his performing DNA which is exactly how it sounds. He not only makes light of the many technical hurdles but the idiom is understood and absorbed. This is no Yehudi Menuhin diddling his way through the odd Sweet Georgia Brown beside Grappelli, this is the real thing that I can imagine appealing as much to jazz aficionados as virtuoso violin fans. Alongside the high quality of music and music-making, Gramola have provided a vibrant recording that places Schmid within the ensemble but realistically ‘present’. on Berger: The jazz bass – presumably Musica Vitae’s regular player – drives the music ideally allowing Schmid to riff and improvise above it. This is a genuine discovery – the whole work runs to around twenty-five minutes and it is a delight to listen to – and it must be tremendous, if demanding, fun to play. on Gulda: Of course Schmid plays the Cadenza quite magnificently, but over the Lento Schmid’s playing is genuinely thrilling. This in turn leads to a second shorter Liberamente section with pizzicato ensemble strings giving it more of an extended recitative feel than cadenza although the sheer bravura of Schmid’s playing keeps him very much front and centre. The closing Allegro assai with an electric bass line has an unmistakably 1970’s jazz-funk groove. In lesser hands than Schmid and the Musica Vitae this might well sound slightly arch but here the complete immersion in the style makes for a genuinely exciting conclusion. I would suggest that even the most zealous jazz purist would be hard put not to be impressed by what they hear here. Overall a genuinely excellent programme of three quite different and individual works that combine to make an wholly engaging disc. Especially so when played with the skill, panache and empathy that is shown here. I was hoping this disc would be good but I am delighted at just how good it has turned out to be. Nick Barnard
Meine Paganini Lieblingsstücke. Benjamin Schmid, Violine Lisa Smirnova, Klavier Ariane Haering, Klavier
new CD out! Benjamin traces Jascha Heifetz
Benjamin Schmid (Violine), Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra, Ltg. Tibor Bogányi: Béla Bartók, Violinkonzerte Nr. 1 & 2, Gramola CD 99138; Tschaikowski, Violinkonzert D-Dur &
Violin & tuba – unique! Benjamin Schmid / violin Andreas Martin Hofmeir / tuba
György Ligeti Violinconcerto, Benjamin Schmid, Hannu Lintu, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, RECORD OF THE MONTH; GRAMMOPHONE EDITORS CHOICE, FEB 2014 +Lontano, Athmosphères, San Francisco Polyphony, ONDINE 1213-2, recorded August 2012, to be released in September 2013
Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2013 an Benjamin Schmid
New CD out!
Duos for Violin and Piano by Grieg, Liszt and Bridge
Summer Night Concert, Schönbrunn 2011, Virtuosu Pictures. Kreisler / Paganini: Benjamin Schmid, Valery Gergiev, Wiener Philharmoniker, CD+DVD, Deutsche Grammophon
Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Live recordings from the Salzburg Festival 2004. Wiener Philharmoniker, Seiji Ozawa
MOZART: Sonatas KV 9, 301, 378, 526 Ariane Haering, Piano (Oehmsclassics OC 335)
Benjamin Schmidt plays Fritz Kreisler and Improvisations on Fritz Kreisler with Miklos Skuta, Piano; Bireli Lagrene, Git; Georg Breinschmid, Bass;
Pièces de Concert: Das sind Stücke, die am Ende eines Konzerts oder als Zugabe gespielt werden. Kompositionen, die quasi als Dessert oder Digestiv ein musikalisches Menü abrunden. OehmsClassics OC 309
After 30 years of playing the Master the time felt right to improvise on Bach:
Bach Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin
Echo Klassik Preis, Beste Kammermusikeinspielung
Eugène Ysaÿe: Sonatas for Solo Violin op.27
Paganini -Schumann Capricci, with Lisa Smirnova, piano Editor´s Choice by SoundScapes
Js Bach 6 Sonatas for Violin Solo, with Piano Accompaniment by Robert Schumann recorded 1995, published 1995 and 2009 MDG 333 0614-2
Max Reger Violinconcerto op. 101, Chaconne for Violin Solo, op. 117 Hannu Lintu, conductor Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra Ondine
Beethoven Violinsonaten Op.30/ 1-3
BEETHOVEN: Sonatas for Piano and Violin OP. 30/1-3 Alfredo Perl, Piano (Oehmsclassics OC 341)
Brahms/Goldmark: Double Concerto OP. 102 and Violin Concerto OP. 27, Daniel Raiskin, Ramon Jaffe (OC 359)
Music by Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and others
Schubert: Die Forelle - Trout Variations - special note: check out track 9 - Forelle Blue by Benjamin Schmid and Stian Carstensen.
24 Capriccios from the Netherlands
24 Caprices for Solo Violin by Netherlands Contempory Composers, Benjamin Schmid, Janine Jansen and Joris Van Rijn play each 8 Caprices on 2 CDs. NM Classics, Duration 115:26, 2003
Violinconcertos by Wieniawski Nr. 2, Szmanowski nr. 2, Lutoslawski Chain 2
Mendelssohn, Schumann, Bruch: Works for Violin & Orchestra
Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik
Ravel Tzigane etc.
Brahms Violinconcerto op.77, Benjamin Schmid, Christian Mandeal, Bucarest Philharmonic Orchestra, OehmsClassics 262, +Brahms Pianoquartett C-minor op.60
Benjamin Britten - Max Bruch - Arthur Benjamin, Double Concertos for Violin and Viola Benjamin Schmid-Violin, Daniel Raiskin-Viola, Lior Shambadal-Conductor, Berliner Symphoniker Arte Nova 74321 89826 2, 2001
Friedrich Gulda: Wings - A Concertpiece for Solo Violin, String Orchestra and Rhythm Section Composed 1973, recorded live 11/2005, Vienna, ORF CD 420
Benjamin Schmid plays Mozart Violinconcertos 1+2 with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and Hans Graf, Conductor + Rondo in C, Rondo in Bflat, Adagio in E
Christian Muthspiel: Our Motley Mothertongue, Konzert für Violine / electric 5 string violin und Orchester Benjamin Schmid, violins HK Gruber, Conductor, RSO Wien, 1998, 19 min, ORF CD 173
Christian Muthspiel: "Pas de deux concertant", Konzert für Violine, Percussion und Orchester Benjamin Schmid, Violine, Emiko Uchiyama, Percussion, Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich, Andres Orosco- Estrada, Dirigent SACD Surround
New-Years Concert 2015
Paganini-Kreisler Concert, Florian Willeitner Valentina´s Air (Ben´s Jig), Edward Elgar Salut d´Amour
Vivaldi Four Seasons with Camerata Salzburg plus Kreisler-Paganini Concerto in one movement with Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Hubert Soudant
Bläserphilharmonie Mozarteum Salzburg Dirigent: Hansjörg Angerer Benjamin Schmid, Violine Ernst Ludwig Leitner, Kurt Weill, Youkali, Bertold Hummel
2 beautiful Finnish Violinconcertos of the late 20th Century
Benjamin Schmid Bartok
B. Bartok: Violinconcertos 1&2, Benjamin Schmid, Violin; Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra, Tibor Boganyi, Conductor
Hot Club Jazz! Benjamin Schmid und Diknu Schneeberger, Gitarre, auf den Spuren von Stephane Grappelli und Django Reinhardt, Lulu Reinhardt, Cole Porter, Fletcher Allen und Arrangements französischer Chansons.
Sensationelle Neufassung!
Complete OehmsClassics Recordings including 2 Bonus CDs
All Benjamin Schmid OehmsCLassics Recordings including 2 previously unreleased CDs: "My Favorite Paganini" and " Bach:Reflected"
Fresh arrangements of well-known piano pieces by Shostakovich and Prokofiev for violin and piano. And a suite transcribed from Kurt Weill's iconic ‘The Threepenny Opera'.
Dünser: Violinkonzert - Radek-Sinfonie Benjamin Schmid, Gerard Korsten, Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg
Complete OehmsClassics Recordings, + 2 Bonus CDs
First version for Violin of the miraculous Gulda Cello Concerto. (Arr. S. Giray). Live Recording of the Paganini/Kreilser Concerto with the great Bläserphilharmonie Salzburg under Hansjörg Angerer. Plus a Solo Track from Benjamin : "for Fritz"
Weinberg Violinconcerto Benjamin Schmid RSO Wien Cornelius Meister
Mozart Piano Quartets K478 and 493 and Dejan Lazic´s Arr. for Quintett of the Rondo K333