Hiller: Symphonies in E minor & F minor

[Gareth Vaughan]

Announced on the Agenda page (https://www.howardgriffiths.ch/agenda) of conductor Howard Griffiths' website, the following recording having been scheduled for CPO in 2023:
28. / 29.04.2023
Konzerthalle «C. Ph. E. Bach» Frankfurt (Oder)

Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt
Aufnahme für cpo
Ferdinand Hiller: Symphonien e-Moll und f-Moll

I have no idea if this project was realised or not. I certainly hope so.

[Alan Howe]

Well sleuthed, that man!

[Alan Howe]

Do we assume that the E minor Symphony is the one titled 'Es muss doch Frühling werden', Op.67?

[eschiss1]

Instead of one of the E minor symphonies that remain in manuscript, as the F minor does? I hope they'll get to most of at least his better symphonies eventually...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Do we assume that the E minor Symphony is the one titled 'Es muss doch Frühling werden', Op.67?

I had assumed that, Alan - but I may be wrong, of course. We shall just have to wait for CPO to release the disk, which I hope will not take ages!

[Alan Howe]

I sincerely hope that Op.67 is recorded - it's about time!

[kolaboy]

A must-buy for me.

[eschiss1]

Has it been commercially recorded in reduction or was there just a concert in which that reduction was included? A full orchestral recording of Op.67 would be better, obviously. And having hummed through at least part of the first movement of the F minor I won't mind that one either, with either finale.

[Alan Howe]

All we have is a radio broadcast of the first movement of Op.67, plus the piano reduction of the whole work.

[tpaloj]

Thanks for the info, good to know! It's 50-50 whether the e minor means the 1830s symphony or the later, op. 67 one.

All of Hiller's (preserved) symphonies have been edited by Ries & Erler Verlag recently. They should be commended for this editing effort, however for two reasons I cannot support them: 1) the scores are outrageously expensive, and 2) even the sample pages in their website appear to contain some editorial oversights and mistakes. Thus if the samples are any indication, the editorial work has been sloppy.

I hope CPO will record the C major symphony too, a fine symphony, which was composed by Hiller sometime in the 1870s - and it was his last symphony.

[Mark Thomas]

Op.67 is a fine work but, whichever symphonies they are, this is a must buy for me.

[FBerwald]

On the Facebook page of BSOF Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, there's a post, dated 29th April, which concludes "...With Howard Griffiths we will also be recording music by Ferdinand Hiller in the concert hall of Frankfurt (O.) in the next few days."

update: On Howard Griffiths' Facebook page, a post, dated 20th May - "Busy weeks. Signed 150 books after my performance of my book 'Sihirli Karpuz' in Izmir. Finished recording all four F. Hiller symphonies with Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester and also two concerts with this orchestra with whom I love making music. Now on my way to Dortmund concerts tomorrow and Wednesday."

From the images, I could make out:
Symphonie in e-moll (HW 243) [1829 - 1831]
Symphonie in C Dur (HW 246)

[Alan Howe]

Finished recording all four F. Hiller symphonies with Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester

Great news! That'll be two CDs' worth, then.

I've emailed Howard Griffiths and asked him which Symphonies he has recorded.

[Alan Howe]

Scores that exist:
- Symphony in E minor (which I've denoted as Mus HS 87 above) in four movements, ending in Chants des Pirates. Both Hiller's autograph and a copyist's full score survive. It was not published, though.
- Symphony in F (1832 with revised Finale in 1833). Hiller's autograph.
- Symphony in C. Hiller's autograph.
- Symphony in E minor Op. 67 "Es muss doch Frühling werden", full score Symphony was published around 1850-60s I think

Ries & Erler list the following:

Symphony in E minor, Op.67 HW 1.67  'Es muss doch Frühling werden'
Symphony in E minor, HW 2.4.3
Symphony in F minor, HW 2.4.4
Symphony in C major, HW 2.4.6

So: are the Symphony in F in tpaloj's list and the Symphony in F minor in Ries & Erler's listing the same work?

[eschiss1]

and wasn't there a Symphony in G "Pastoral" in there somewhere (attested to in contemporary sources, though I haven't seen score nor part nor...)? What happened to -that-?