Hans Huber - Symphony No. 2; etc. (Jörg-Peter Weigle)

Information

Composer: Hans Huber

• (01) Symphonische Einleitung zur Oper 'Der Simplicius'
• (02) Eine Lustspiel-Ouverture, Op. 50
• (03) Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 115 'Böcklin-Symphonie'

Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra
Jörg-Peter Weigle, conductor

Date: 1996
Label: Sterling
http://www.sterlingcd.com/catalogue/cds1022.html

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Review

Der Simplicius (1898): There are five Huber operas (six if you count the unfinished Der Gläserne Berg) of which Der Simplicius is the third. The overture is Mephistophelian - buzzing with whippy impetuosity. It will appeal to those who like Elgar's Froissart Overture and Smetana's symphonic poems Haakon Jarl and Richard III.

Eine Lustspiel-Ouverture (1879) is very attractive: calming but also with the slaloming vigour of Dvorak Symphonies 5 and 6 and Schumann's Rhenish Symphony.

The first and second movements of the Böcklin Symphony blaze with activity inflamed by the same drive as those two Dvorák symphonies. When the fires burn on a lower pressure a honeyed Brahmsian tone tempers the Dvorakian element. The third movement adagio has a willowy fluency with pointillistic effects from harp and solo violin ending in the autumnal sunshine familiar from Brahms' Third Symphony. The finale is a free fantasy inspired by a gallery of paintings by Arnold Böcklin (yes, the same Böcklin whose Isle of the Dead inspired Rachmaninov and Max Reger's Four Böcklin Tone Poems.). The movement is, by turns, jaunty, passionate and butterfly textured. So airy is some of the orchestration that we are almost into Berlioz at his most impressionistic as in Symphonie Fantastique. Set off against this a Brahmsian gravitas. The performance is excellent - infused with flammable temperament and an impressive unanimity of attack. A welcome change from Dvorák 5 and 6. Do try it!

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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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)

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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

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