Marcel Tyberg - Symphony No. 2; Piano Sonata No. 2 (JoAnn Falletta; Fabio Bidini)

Information

Composer: Marcel Tyberg

• (01) Symphony No. 2 in F minor
• (05) Piano Sonata No. 2 in F sharp minor

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
JoAnn Falletta, conductor (1-4)
Fabio Bidini, piano (5-8)

Date: 2013
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572822

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Review

I defy the average educated listener not to call out the name of Anton Bruckner within seconds of the start of Marcel Tyberg’s Second Symphony. The cut of the melodies, the rhythms, the sectional construction, and the scoring are utterly characteristic of the Viennese master—who died in 1896, three years after Tyberg was born. Most curious. That impression continues throughout the first movement, and off and on (but mostly on) throughout the entire symphony. Indeed, the thing that is least Brucknerian about Tyberg’s symphony, which was composed in 1927, is that it is barely 42 minutes long. (To be fair, there’s a bit of Korngold as the symphony reaches its conclusion.) In other words, Tyberg concludes his movements just when Bruckner would have been getting his second wind. I am astonished that Bruckner’s name does not come up once in the entirety of Edward Yadzinski’s booklet note. Perhaps he thought mentioning it would have been the epitome of obviousness. I’m not really suggesting that Tyberg’s Second is on a par with Bruckner’s symphonies—at times it sounds a little awkwardly put together, and too terse—but it is a fascinating, fascinating near miss, and really very enjoyable, and if this disc doesn’t get wide exposure, at least because Tyberg’s unknown symphony is so doggedly familiar (!), then there is no justice in the world. Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic play the heck out of it, by the way, and Naxos’s engineering is lustrous.

The Piano Sonata No. 2 is no less fine. Bruckner wrote no piano sonatas, I believe, but Brahms completed three of them, and there are times when Tyberg’s sturdy, 33-minute sonata sounds as if it is aiming to be “Brahms’s Fourth.” The hyper-masculine opening gesture, for example, and the feminine response that it receives, would hardly be out of place in Brahms. Other influences appear in this sonata, however, including, strangely enough, Szymanowski. Again, call this music derivative if you like, but there’s no escaping that Tyberg’s lack of innovation is not dull but really rather delightful, given the attractiveness of the material. Pianist Bidini makes a very good case for it, playing it with plenty of romantic temperament, and with steely wrists and fingers.

I missed Naxos’s earlier Tyberg release (8.572236) in which his Third Symphony is paired with his Piano Trio. Jerry Dubins and Robert Markow both welcomed it strongly; in fact, it made the latter reviewer’s Want List in 2011. There also was a feature article in Fanfare 34: 2 in which Falletta discussed Tyberg. To make a long story short, Tyberg, who had a Jewish relative several generations back, was a victim of the Nazis and died in 1944. He spent his young years in Vienna, but around the time of the Second Symphony, he relocated to what today is part of Italy. Shortly before his deportation, he entrusted his music manuscripts to a friend, and they were passed on to that friend’s son, who ended up in Buffalo. After spending years trying to interest various conductors in Tyberg’s scores, he finally attracted Falletta’s attention. She recognized the music’s worth, and if a Tyberg revival is in the works, we can thank her, and the efforts of the Marcel Tyberg Musical Legacy Fund of the Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies in Buffalo.

Knowing that I have a tendency to be excitable, I don’t want to overdo my praise for this music or for this release, but glorioski, this is enjoyable stuff.

-- Raymond Tuttle, FANFARE

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/tyberg-symphony-no-2-piano-sonata-no-2

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Nov13/Tyberg_sy2_8572822.htm

http://www.classicalmusicsentinel.com/KEEP/keep-tyberg2.html

https://www.allmusic.com/album/marcel-tyberg-symphony-no-2-piano-sonata-no-2-mw0002557917

https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.572822&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.com/Tyberg-Symphony-No-Piano-Sonata/dp/B00DOQBUOW

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Marcel Tyberg (27 January 1893, in Vienna – 31 December 1944, in Auschwitz-Birkenau) was an Austrian composer. Born into a musical family, it is assumed that Tyberg had some formal training outside his home, although little is known about his musical education. His Piano Sonata No. 1 (1920) and his Symphony No. 1 (1924) both date from his time in Vienna. His Symphony No. 2 was premiered by his friend Rafael Kubelik with the Czech Philharmonic in the early 1930s. In 1943, Tyberg was arrested in northern Italy by the German occupying forces and deported to the death camps of San Sabba and Auschwitz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Tyberg

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JoAnn Falletta (born February 27, 1954 in New York) is an American conductor. She is best known as music directors of the Virginia Symphony (since 1991) and Buffalo Philharmonic orchestras (since 1999). She has also served as music director of the Long Beach Symphony and of the Women's Philharmonic Orchestra (San Francisco). Falletta has recorded over 70 albums. In 2011 she was appointed artistic director of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Outside of the USA, Falletta was the 12th principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra (2011-2014), being its first American and first female conductor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoAnn_Falletta

http://www.joannfalletta.com/biography.html

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