Hans Huber - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7 (Jörg-Peter Weigle)

Information

Composer: Hans Huber

• (01) Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 'Tellsinfonie'
• (05) Symphony No. 7 in D minor 'Schweizerische'

Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra
Jörg-Peter Weigle, conductor

Date: 2001
Label: Sterling
http://www.sterlingcd.com/catalogue/cds1042.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Swiss composer Hans Huber (1852-1921) must have loved weddings. Both his First and Seventh Symphonies contain scherzos marked “in slow wedding march tempo” and “peasant wedding procession” respectively, and this fact does indeed reveal something of the music’s sweet, unchallenging character. The First Symphony, subtitled “Tell” (as in “William”) recalls Dvorák, and it has plenty of charm if not an overwhelmingly powerful character; but the tunes are good and the orchestration skillful. No. 7 (“The Swiss”) has movement titles that not surprisingly involve mountains, and it’s a more substantial and clearly more advanced (though still firmly harmonically consonant) work. The orchestration has expanded to include much more confident use of winds (piccolos especially), brass (often muted), and percussion, and the result has a cinematic sweep with scarcely a dull moment. It’s very much worth hearing.

Jörg-Peter Weigle and the Stuttgart Philharmonic turn in fine performances of these obscure pieces, and they convey the bravura writing in the outer movements of Symphony No. 7 with the necessary energy and conviction. Sterling’s recording also sounds excellent, with a firm bottom and a nice, bright top to catch the brilliant skirling piccolos that contribute such a memorable glint of color to Symphony No. 7’s sonic landscape. If you’re looking for well-crafted, harmonically comfortable, but consistently and enjoyably listenable Romantic music of the German school, give this a shot. You won’t be sorry.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hans Huber (28 June 1852 – 25 December 1921) was a Swiss composer. He was born in Eppenberg-Wöschnau (Canton of Solothurn) and studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, where his teachers included Oscar Paul. Returned to Basel in 1877, Huber obtained a post in the Conservatory there in 1889, then director from 1896 to 1918. Among his notable students were Hans Münch and Hermann Suter. Huber wrote in all nine symphonies, several concertos for violin, cello and piano, and five operas. He also wrote a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 100, for piano four-hands in all the keys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Huber_(composer)

***

Jörg-Peter Weigle (born 1953 in Greifswald, Germany) is a German conductor and music professor. Weigle studied at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" (Berlin), and later participated in a conducting class with Kurt Masur. Weigle was conductor of the Neubrandenburg State Symphony Orchestra (1977-1980), Leipzig Radio Choir (1980-1988), Dresden Philharmonic (1986-1994), and Stuttgart Philharmonic (1995-2002). Since 2001, Weigle has been a professor of choir direction at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin. On 1 April 2008, he became the school's rector.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6rg-Peter_Weigle

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!