Joseph Lauber Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2

[Justin]

Review for the album from Pizzicato.

https://www.pizzicato.lu/zwei-symphonien-aus-der-schweiz/

[Alan Howe]

The Pizzicato review:

<<The label Schweizer Fonogramm presents a studio recording of the first two symphonies by the Swiss composer Joseph Lauber (1864-1952). Born near Lucerne, he grew up in western Switzerland and studied in Zurich, in Munich (with Josef Gabriel Rheinberger) and at the Conservatoire de Paris (with Jules Massenet). He later taught himself in Zurich and especially in Geneva, where he was also conductor at the local Opera. His most famous student was Frank Martin.
So far there have been only a few chamber music recordings with works by Lauber. The scores of his six
symphonies were hidden in the archives of the University Library of Lausanne. The conductor Kaspar Zehnder discovered them there and conducts his Symphony Orchestra Biel Solothurn in this world premiere recording.
The first two symphonies show not only solid compositional craftsmanship but also a characteristic musical language that places rural Swiss-German colours next to more elegant sounds with a French touch.
The very first movement of the First Symphony mixes this elegance with alpine sounds in a very imaginative music, compared to which the second movement falls off slightly. The Scherzo is all the more remarkable and effective. This imaginative power is also found in the lively finale.
In the first movement of the Second Symphony, there are plenty of original ideas, while the slow movement is again less characteristic. Lauber obviously loved composing faster music. The Scherzo of the second movement is again quite outstanding and memorable, just like the Allegro Vivo, the lively final movement.>>

[Alan Howe]

This is beautiful music, often consoling in its lyricism, alternating with more questing passages and, in the slow movement of No.1, great floods of sound - and all in a confident, optimistic, 'outdoor' idiom. Very lovely indeed.

The playing and recording are beyond reproach.

[Alan Howe]

The more I listen to Lauber, the more original I find him. He just doesn't sound like anyone else I can think of.

[Justin]

Similar to Robert Hermann, Alan. Not their sound, but that they are both Swiss composers who stand out like no other.

[Alan Howe]

I see what you mean. I enjoy Lauber rather more, though.

[Mark Thomas]

Coincidentally, I played the Sterling CD of the two Hermann CDs again recently after a gap of many years, and thought them much better than I remembered them being. That said, they don't have the freshness of Lauber's.

[Justin]

Hermann has much more emphasis on the brass than Lauber. Lauber's symphonies sound more "stately," if that makes sense. They do a better job at representing that Swiss pastoral theme, with more inventive writing for woodwinds, particularly in the Andante of the 1st symphony. That's where I see the contrast.

[Alan Howe]

Hermann's also rather odd in some of his harmonies.

[eschiss1]

I know I wouldn't mind hearing more works like Hermann's 2nd symphony, whose progression towards its last chords feels like a certain kind of inevitable, for want of a better description. Wouldn't mind hearing his chamber music, either, or Lauber's

[Justin]

Favorable review from Musicweb:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Jan/Lauber-sys-SCHWEIZER-FONOGRAMM.htm

[MartinH]

I've been enjoying these symphonies from a download. Earth-shattering - not even close, but quite enjoyable. The Musicweb review tells it all. I can think of a lot worse way to spend 71 minutes of my time! There are times, especially in the 1st, where the string writing sounds so much like something you'd hear in Melachrino or even Mantovani. I'm looking forward to the next four symphonies.

[Alan Howe]

Listening to them, the thought occurred to me that they are like an antidote to a surfeit of Mahler.

[terry martyn]

I´m relieved that someone mentioned Mantovani.  In Town Tonight, which came to my mind,now doesn´t seem so shocking an admission.

[JP]

Soundtracks of this recording can now be heard on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joseph+lauber+sinfonie-nr.+Sinfonie-Orchester-Biel-Solothurn-Topic