Joseph Lauber Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2

[Justin]

A forthcoming release of Lauber's first two symphonies:

https://www.schweizerfonogramm.com/en/uncategorized/a-sensational-rediscovery-joseph-lauber-1864-1952-world-premiere-recording-of-his-symphonies/

[Wheesht]

Great news. I didn't even know this label that was founded in 2017. Details about the project including a press release (all in German) are available on conductor Kaspar Zehnder's website (scroll down to the third item, 22 June 2020). It was Zehnder and the same orchestra who recorded the  Robert Radecke disc a while back, and based on that I'm certainly looking forward to this release.

[Mark Thomas]

A recording of Lauber's Symphony No.1 is in our Downloads Board here. The performers are the same as advertised on this welcome CD, so it may well be the same performance, in which case the post will be deleted when the recording is issued commercially.

[Wheesht]

The performance in our Downloads Board was a live recording made in February when the same performers played Lauber's first symphony for the first time before an audience. The recording for the forthcoming CD was not  a live one, it was made this June, in a church in Bern. They intend to record all six symphonies by Lauber over the next three years.

[terry martyn]

I enjoy the Radecke.   Was that a quote from Johann Strauss in the finale of the Lauber?

[Mark Thomas]

The recording for the forthcoming CD was not  a live one, it was made this June, in a church in Bern. They intend to record all six symphonies by Lauber over the next three years.

Thanks, Thomas, that's good to know, and that our recording doesn't need to be deleted. It's a very engaging work, and I'm looking forward to hearing his other symphonies.

[Justin]

Release date is November 30th. Booklet and pictures from the recording session are now available. They even list all of the microphones used for every instrument!

https://www.schweizerfonogramm.com/en/cd/joseph-lauber-1864-1952-a-swiss-late-romantic-rediscovery-symphonies-no-1-2/


Schweizer Fonogramm deserves kudos for proceeding with this recording back in June, given the pandemic.

[eschiss1]

already available streaming eg over amazon music-will get back to you

[Mark Thomas]

It's also already available on Spotify.

[Alan Howe]

Info on the two symphonies here:
https://www.schweizerfonogramm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20_10_SFG_Lauber_iTunes.pdf

[Mark Thomas]

Lauber's Symphony No.2 proves to be cut from very much the same cloth as the First, which we already have in our Downloads Board. It's a modest, mainstream late 19th century work, confidently and competently put together, thematically attractive, harmonically and tonally unadventurous, and with orchestration owing something to Dvorak perhaps. The modestly-sized Biel Solothurn Sinfonie-Orchester play very well and Kaspar Zehnder''s interpretation gives the work plenty of light and shade and dynamic contrast. At first acquaintance I thought it all rather enjoyable in an undemanding way, and I mean that positively - one doesn't always want to be scaling the artistic heights and this is a work I shall definitely return to once the CD arrives (I listened to it streaming on Spotify).

[Alan Howe]

A modest pleasure, then, but evidently a genuine one?

[Mark Thomas]

Indeed. I've heard a lot worse.

[Ilja]

If anything, the second sounds more old-fashioned than the first - interesting to see where Lauber went after this pair...

[eschiss1]

Well, a few of his later works (for chamber ensemble eg wind quartet) have been recorded which may help answer that question in part