Hans Huber - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6 (Jörg-Peter Weigle)

Information

Composer: Hans Huber

• Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 118 'Heroische'
• Symphony No. 6 in A major, Op. 134

Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra

Jörg-Peter Weigle, conductor

Date: 2000

Label: Sterling

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Review

Two Huber symphonies on a most generously coupled disc.

Among the sea-sweep and flow of first movement of the Heroische Symphonie you will find a Brahmsian approach (especially Brahms Symphony No. 1) and touches of Elgar (Enigma) and Richard Strauss (solo violin). The measured and ponderous tread of the Funeral March is punctuated by tubular bells and given a somewhat ambivalent ghoulish air. The Totentanz movement has a nicely alcoholic sway with horn and trumpet solos over a pizzicato string pasture. You can now add this symphony to the long list of Dies Irae appearances in classical music. The finale features a concert organ and a soprano (Barbara Baier) singing the Sanctus.

The Sixth Symphony announces itself in raucous exuberance and as it progressed reminded me of Siegfried Wagner's orchestral music (note the long-running CPO series) especially in its naïve playfulness. In the second movement the stahlspiel tinkles graciously but the movement is undermined by a rather stop-start progress. The adagio (III) is romantically 'slippery' with a strong Lisztian element. The effervescent spring of the woodwind writing marks out the finale. There is yet more Lisztian influence in the wheedling solo violin (6.28). The rhythms engagingly developed in this movement are decidedly terpsichorean mating this movement with Smetana's Festive Symphony and Bizet's Symphony in C. The warmth of the closing bars links the work with Dvorák Symphony No. 8 and Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony.

Both symphonies have their weaknesses but the sheer pleasure returned each time you listen to these works more than compensates.

— Rob Barnett

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Hans Huber (28 June 1852 – 25 December 1921) was a Swiss composer. Born in Eppenberg-Wöschnau, Canton of Solothurn, he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory under Carl Reinecke and later taught in Alsace before moving to Basel in 1877. Though initially denied a position at the Basel Conservatory, he eventually joined in 1889 and became its Director by 1896. Huber composed eight symphonies, concertos for violin, cello, and piano, nine violin sonatas, and five cello sonatas. He also wrote five operas, and a collection of 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano four-hands, covering all major and minor keys.

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Jörg-Peter Weigle (born in 1953) is a German conductor. He trained with the Thomanerchor in Leipzig and studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin, later attending masterclasses with Kurt Masur and Witold Rowicki. His conducting career includes roles with the Neubrandenburg State Orchestra, Leipzig Radio Choir, Dresden Philharmonic, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt and Philharmonischer Chor Berlin. As an educator, he taught at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy in Dresden and served as Professor of Choral Conducting at the Hanns Eisler Academy until 2017.

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