Festival Music of Switzerland (Schweizerische Festspiele)

[Justin]

I recently purchased a rare Philips LP (N 00738R) of music from festivals in Basel, by both Hans Huber and Hermann Suter. The stage tunes are immediately appealing which would make sense for the mass populace for which they were written.

As far as my research shows, Huber wrote for the Kleinbasler Gedenkfeier in 1892 (500th anniversary of Basel Unification) and the Basler Bund 1901 (400th anniversary of Basel joining the Swiss Confederacy). There's a good bruchure on Huber's contributions here.

Suter wrote for the Sankt Jakob an der Birs festival in 1912 (to commemorate the 1444 Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs) and the Riehener Festspiel in 1923 (to commemorate the unification of the municipality of Riehen with Basel).

It appears that some of Huber's works were performed in 2014, but I cannot find any recording of them. The LP I have dates from the early 1950s in mono, but I wonder if anything else exists out there.

[mahesi]

Excerpts of the Kleinbasler Gedenkfeier have been played in September 2013 (https://www.radioswissclassic.ch/de/konzertkalender/event/107566).
Excerpts from the Riehener Festspiel have been played in September 2014 (together with Serenade no.1 from Huber). I did not find a link.

Both were played only once at the Tag des Denkmals in Basel (2013) and Riehen (2014). I was there 2013 and 2014 and enjoyed the music.

It is a pity that there does not exist any recording. 

Where did you find the LP? I heard it once on Swiss Radio.

Please excuse my mistakes in the English language. My languages are German and French.

[Justin]

Your English is very good mahesi, so no apologies are necessary.

I was looking for Hans Huber recordings and found a listing for this LP on the Swiss National Sound Archives (fonoteca.ch) and proceeded to find a copy on eBay.





The best track in my opinion is the first sung by Maria Stader in a hauntingly beautiful aria "Leise rauscht der Strom dahin." It is about a Celtic woman admiring the beauty of the river Rhine after her people settle there during the Roman conquest.

[mahesi]

Thanks Justin

Ebay is a good idea. I found the LP there and ordered it immediately.