Marcel Tyberg

[Alan Howe]

Does anyone know anything about the music of Marcel Tyberg (1893-1944)?

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//8572236.htm

[Delicious Manager]

I haven't investigated this CD yet, but I shall be doing so. It would seem that Tyberg (also known as Till Bergmar) was a composer of quite extraordinary talent whose name should be added to that shameful list of promising Jewish composers (such as Haas, Klein, Krása and Ullmann), who perished at the hands of the Nazis near the end of WWII - in Tyberg's case, the very last day of 1944. Apparently, Tyberg, painfully aware of his likely fate, gave all of his music to a friend Milan Mihich  for safekeeping before his arrest in Italy. Mihich himself died in 1948 and it is only recently that Tyberg's music has started to emerge from safe storage.

Ironically, Tyberg was born in Auschwitz (Polish Oświęcim) - where he would also die in that town's horrific concentration camp.

This promises to be a very exciting project ...

[DennisS]

I have just purchased the Naxos cd of Marcel Tyberg's Symphony no 3 + Piano trio. The notes on the cd cover immediately caught my eye, stating that Tyberg's music has "shades of Schumann and Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler". I have listened to the cd twice and would like to say just how impressed I am by what I heard. His music for me is a real find, especially the symphony.Listening to his symphony, I was amazed for example by the number of Mahler references I detected, in particular in the first two movements.  The opening Mahler horn (tenor tuba) in the first movement sets the tone  and is followed by other  Mahler like motifs throughout the opening movement. Movement no 2 begins with a  Mahler like Ländler. Indeed, the whole of the second movement, a Scherzo, sounds, to me at least, very much like Mahler. I also noted the number of Bruckner like references in the symphony, but especially in the third movement, an adagio, a beautiful melody which is quite arresting. I was less aware of Schumann and Brahms though. The closing movement is a lively rondo and is a lot of fun, lasting just over 6 minutes and finished almost before it had begun. I would not like however, to give the impression that this symphony is merely a slavish copy of a Mahler or Bruckner symphony. Indeed, there is much that is quite original to qualify the symphony as a Tyberg symphony. That said, I had the almost eery feeling that I was, at times, listening to a new Mahler symphony, a Mahler brought up to date. Perhaps I am biased as I hugely admire both Bruckner and Mahler. I noted from ther liner notes that Rafael Kubelik performed Tyberg's symphony no 2 in the 1930's, so I am hoping that Naxos will release this symphony also in due course. The piano trio on the same cd is also a lovely work (no Mahler references this time!). What a real pity, Tyberg died tragically so young, as explained in the previous post.

Cheers
Dennis

[giles.enders]

I purchased this cd recently and it is more or less what it says in the booklet, which is echos of the other composers mentioned.   Had he lived I think he would have found a stronger voice. I haven't heard of him before and would like to hear the other two symphonies. 

[Gerontius]

I just ordered this Tyberg CD and cannot wait to hear it.

[Alan Howe]

I enjoyed the symphony very much indeed, but it's too derivative to earn the composer much of a reputation, I would have thought. Great to have it, though.

[Mark Thomas]

A very enjoyable listen indeed, provided you wallow in his Mahlerian world, rather than berate Tyberg for not having a voice of his own. The Piano Trio is interesting, though, because it's translating his Mahlerian prototype into the chamber music genre. A lovely work, but still not very original.

[Delicious Manager]

I have now had time to listen to this CD in some depth. What is clear is that Tyberg was a talented compositional craftsman who, alas, did not (from listening to these two pieces, anyway) have a clear voice of his own. The first movement of the Symphony, although seeming to crib a little from Mahler's 7th Symphony, is very Brucknerian, while the second movement (as has already been pointed out) owes a great deal to the Scherzo of Mahler's First Symphony. The slow movement is lovely, but strongly reminiscent of the later music of Erich Korngold. The finale goes back again to Mahler (and again seems to have an affinity with the older composer's 7th Symphony).

Strangely enough, the Piano Trio seems to entirely inhabit the world of Brahms and the influences shown in the symphony don't seem to show themselves again here.

I will be interested to hear any further offerings of Tyberg's work, but it will take a fair bit to convince me that he was any more than a very talented second-rate composer without a true style of his own.

[chill319]

Stretches of Mahler 1 sound a lot like Rott, but he does something pretty fine with it. The working out counts for something...

[sdtom]

http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/symphony-no-3-in-d-minortyberg/

Enjoyed the third symphony very much
Thomas

[Dylan]

The sometimes equivocal responses to this disc initially put me off listening to it - as did the brief  snatch of the Landler I heard, which did indeed sound like imitation Mahler. But I'm glad I took the trouble to listen to it properly - it's a solid and convincing piece, and if it's not in any way original, that's no crime, while it boasts splendid melodies ( a gorgeous slow movement, apropos another post!) and some stirring climaxes. Someone mentioned Korngold - well, Korngold could have been jealous!

[mbhaub]

I finally got around to listening to the Tyberg symphony. Not impressed. The themes are unmemorable, the orchestration isn't anything really dazzling. The symphony as a whole is out of balance with the really long first movement, then they shrink. There was a noticeable lack of tension and excitement. The scherzo was just too heavy and lumpy. The slow movement was the best thing in the whole work. Then ending of the finale was unprepared. When it finally came I thought "that's it?". For all the work that went before I expected a more conclusive coda. Tyberg may have been a talented man, but this symphony sure didn't prove it to me. I'll come back to it in a week and see if I feel the same way.

[sdtom]

I finally got around to listening to the Tyberg symphony. Not impressed. The themes are unmemorable, the orchestration isn't anything really dazzling. The symphony as a whole is out of balance with the really long first movement, then they shrink. There was a noticeable lack of tension and excitement. The scherzo was just too heavy and lumpy. The slow movement was the best thing in the whole work. Then ending of the finale was unprepared. When it finally came I thought "that's it?". For all the work that went before I expected a more conclusive coda. Tyberg may have been a talented man, but this symphony sure didn't prove it to me. I'll come back to it in a week and see if I feel the same way.

We agree to disagree
Thomas

[febnyc]

While I was not as bowled over as I expected to be - after reading reviews and the comments on this site - I did very much enjoy the Tyberg CD.

The opening bars, indeed, could have been lifted right out of Gustav's composition book.  But it's not all Mahler to be sure.  There are surprises and, as mentioned, a beautiful slow movement.  And, if one considers the fate of the composer within a year or so of its creation, the Symphony takes on an emotional shade which, I think, enhances its impact.  No work is created in a vacuum and this one was wrought as darkness was descending on its creator.  This, from Wikipedia, ostensibly describing an organ recital by Tyberg for his friends a few days before the Gestapo took him:

Shuddering and shivering, we listened to the uninterrupted flow of sounds that ranged from cheerful pastoral tunes to the greatest Beethoven-like outbursts. His face shone transfigured and happily smiling out of the dimness. There was a childlike joy and tenderness in him that is only seen in great souls shortly before their return home. The tears ran down my cheeks. We all had the feeling that he will not be with us much longer. Perhaps he felt it himself, too; he hardly knew any more where he was and who we were. It seemed as if he had to fulfill some final task – to play for his friends – and then to part and never return. As he ended, we silently embraced the completely exhausted artist and only hesitantly did words of thanks pass across our lips. It was as if our thanks could wipe out this, his last gift. We shook his hand, one after the other. I was not able to utter a word. He, however, smiled, friendly and ingenuous, as if he wanted once more to let us take part in his unknown greatness. In that dark old church he stood like a saint in our midst – a strange ray of light – the first moonlight – fell at this moment through the high arched window on his quiet face.

[mbhaub]

By coincidence, after this discussion of Marcel Tyberg, I was informed that our local professional orchestra, The Phoenix Symphony, will be playing music of Tyberg in November. And it's music we all know: Schubert's Unfinished. Tyberg finished it and I never knew that. So it seems that we here in the great southwest will be hearing the world premier of Tyberg's completion. You wonder if Tyberg ever could have imagined this happening.