Hans Huber (1852-1921)

[Gareth Vaughan]

Erik Anton Walsemar Siboni (1828-92) was a Danish composer of Italian extraction who wrote a big-boned Brahmsian piano concerto. Danacord had it earmarked for recording with Oleg Marshev - except they discovered the score and orchestral parts could not be found.  Library of Congress has score and parts for a piano quartet of his (that's all) - would love to hear it.

[FBerwald]

What else has he written? Any web-sites dedicated to him?

[Marcus]

The Siboni sounds interesting Gareth. It seems strange that Danacord had committed to a recording without the score in hand. I do not pretend to understand the mechanics of preparing to record, but isn't it like walking in to bat without the bat ? Surely the score exists somewhere, how else would they have decided to go with it ?
There are plenty of entries on the web and in books about Siboni. His music is said to be modelled on Mendelssohn.
He studied with Moscheles, Hauptman & Sechter, and wrote two symphonies, overtures,the piano concerto mentioned, string quartets, including a quartet for piano,violin, viola & cello op10, sonatas,trios, operas & choral works. From what I have read, he is a genuine unsung, and hopefully he will make the catalogue soon.
Marcus.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I didn't say Danacord had committed to a recording, merely that they had "earmarked" it, by which they meant it was on their shortlist of concertos to record. It's quite easy for a record company to list a concerto as being one they would like to record, but find later that the orchestral material no longer exists. This is because solo piano parts, or 2-piano scores, are usually available of such works since these were printed, even if the rest of the material remained in MS, and these are usually sufficient to make a judgement on the music's worth. (The Hartknoch Grand Concerto No. 2 which Hyperion wanted to record is a case in point - in fact, I am not infrequently asked to try to locate orchestral material for a concerto of which only the solo or 2-piano scores exist.) Perhaps rashly, Danacord posted a paragraph on their website when they began the series of Danish Romantic PCs with Oleg Marshev in which they wrote that listeners could look forward to concertos by... there followed a list of names (nearly all of whose PCs have indeed been recorded by Danacord) which included that of Siboni. When I later inquired about this work, they wrote rather sheepishly to tell me the orchestral material was lost. Perhaps they had been led to believe that the parts were in the publisher's archive, but a search failed to find them (this, I'm afraid, is the fate of Bazzini's VC no. 3 "Hymne Triomphale" - Schott thought they had the material but when asked for it could not find it - I suppose this is not too surprising if a work has not been performed for over 100 years!).

I fear this is moving off topic.

[chill319]

Siboni was important enough to make the short lists. Pratt's history (sec. 213) mentions three 19th-century Danes: Hartmann ("an admirer of Spohr"), Gade (whose "style reflected that of Mendelssohn at first, later that of Schumann"), and "Erik Siboni (d. 1892), at work in Copenhagen from 1853 ... with 2 symphonies, an overture and some chamber pieces, besides choral works and an opera (1862)" (essentially Marcus's list above). Sounds like Pratt hadn't actually heard any of this. Arthur Elson may have, though. His survey of mid-century Danes (p. 140) names Gade -- whom, he divulges, was called "Mrs Mendelssohn" (yes, and the same age dubbed Dittersdorf "Haydn's wife") -- and Siboni, "whose symphonies, choral works, and chamber music show Mendelssohn's influence". The same can be said superficially of Schumann's symphonies, choral works, and chamber music, of course. Might as well mention Beethoven's influence, too. The Royal Library in Copenhagen holds an opera, Othello, and a Stabat Mater plus a slew of teaching pieces for piano. But no symphonies, no 1864 concerto.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I've just done a little internet research and found that Siboni's MSS are held in the archive of the Danish National Lilbrary. The 1864 PC is listed but, alas, it is only the solo piano part (35 pages) - no symphonies, either. World Cat. has 59 entries (some duplicates, of course) for pieces by Siboni, held in various libraries (mostly Danish, it must be said).

[Peter1953]

Certainly interesting, but I'm almost sure Hans Huber has never heard of Siboni 

[Peter1953]

Over the past days I've been listening to Huber only. His symphonies are varying in memorability, but I'm quite enthusiastic about the nos. 1-4 and 8. However, his PC 1 is for me the most attractive piece of orchestral music. Definitely more appealing than his slightly complex, but certainly interesting 3rd. It's full of memorable and inventive tunes in all 4 movements. I'm increasingly convinced that Hyperion has missed an attractive edition of its RPC series, a coupling of two great and appealing PCs by two Swiss born composers...

Any other opinions on Huber's piano concertos?

[Peter1953]

Just one more time Huber. I'm now completely under the spell of Huber's 1st PC in C Minor, op. 36. What a gorgeous, brilliant masterpiece, full of memorable themes and with a 3rd movement, a sort of scherzo including a trio, which has not its equal. This is utterly sparkling music, full of energy. It has been a very long time that a work has, after repeated hearings, grown so much on me. If you don't know this marvellous PC, I can only strongly recommend it! Thank you, Sterling!

Now I have a provocative question to those who are already familiar with this concerto. If you listen to it, and imagine that you don't know the composer, you'll probably think it's written in the 1870s or 1880s. Suppose someone says to you, this is a recently discovered 2nd PC by Raff, would you believe it? I would. Please tell me that I'm totally wrong.

[febnyc]

Apologies for opening this ancient thread, but I would like some updated comments from the well-qualified participants hereon, whose opinions I respect:

I just finished listening through all the Huber Symphonies.  The overall impression is one of boredom, of stolid music, garnering little interest.  I found myself glancing at the track timings to see how much longer the music would plod ahead.  Yes, there are some novel touches - such as the recurring Theme & Variations aspects, and the quasi-concerto approach of the Fifth Symphony.  However, the inspiration never arrived and I think I will sell off the CDs and make room for more exciting tunes.

Am I missing something?  And if so, what is it?

(PS - The Piano Quintet and Piano Quartet are very much more appealing.)

[eschiss1]

which? there are two of each. (and a ton of other chamber music only a very little of which has reached recording. (Hansheinz Schneeberger, who's represented in my CD collection by a fine recording of Reger's last two violin sonatas, did record one of Huber's 2 piano quartets on LP, and also well...- the 2nd? Heard it at the local university library, need to look it up, will do so soon.)

[Alan Howe]

...presumably the two recorded on Musiques Suisses (Piano Quintet No.1 and Piano Quartet No.2) - a lovely disc, by the way, and IMHO by far the best of Huber. As with many composers (e.g. Fuchs, Gernsheim, Kiel, etc.) the best of him may well be in his chamber music...

[febnyc]

You presume correctly - I have the Musiques Suisses disc and, as noted above, agree on the relative quality of these chamber works vis-a-vis his symphonies.

[Peter1953]

I agree to a certain extent. My first enthusiasm of Huber's symphonies has drastically changed. I still like his first two symphonies, but from the Third they are indeed boring. After listening you ask yourself: what did I just hear? And why did I listen to this symphony again? Neither stunning, nor interesting. Except for the First and Second the other 3 CD's of Sterling's Huber Symphony collection belong to my growing batch of discs I never turn to again....

I have a completely different opinion about some other works by Huber. The Sterling disc with his PC's 1 & 3 is a real winner. Unbelievable that these marvellous concertos are from the same composer as those boring symphonies. And indeed, the Piano Quintet op. 111 and Piano Quartet op. 117 are lovely works as well. Then I also have a Pan Classics CD Präludien und Fugen in allen Tonarten für Pianoforte zu vier Händen, op. 100. The effort of listening once per year more than worthwhile, but I'm open to correction.

[febnyc]

Except for the First and Second the other 3 CD's of Sterling's Huber Symphony collection belong to my growing batch of discs I never turn to again....

I have gone a step further and offered all the symphony CDs for sale on Amazon. 

I don't have the PC disc.  Perhaps I'll give it a go.

Thanks for your response.