Ferdinand Hiller: Symphonies (vol.2)

[Justin]

Set for physical release on June 6th. Already streaming on Presto Music.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9766439--ferdinand-hiller-symphony-op-67-symphony-in-f-minor

[Alan Howe]

Just to be clear, Justin: you are highlighting vol.1, for which we already have this thread:
https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,9721.0.html

Vol.2 has yet to be announced for release, although we know of its existence.

[Justin]

My mistake!

[Alan Howe]

Not to worry, Justin. Thanks for posting.

[Justin]

Volume 2 to be released on June 18th on Presto.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9870368--ferdinand-hiller-symphonies-in-e-minor-c-major

[tpaloj]

Excellent news! Can't wait for it!

[Ilja]

Would this be the E minor be Frankfurt Mus Ms 87 from 1831? The C major we of course know from Tuomas' sterling work, so this is a must-buy for me.

[Mark Thomas]

Excellent. It's really heartening that Hiller's music is gaining more recognition, in the recorded repertoire at least. He was a major figure in the middle of the 19th century, and I always found it puzzling that he was so underrepresented - maybe because he hasn't had a modern day advocate to champion his cause and make recordings happen?

[Ilja]

Yes, it always puzzled me too since the Hiller wasn't only historically significant, his music is quite attractive, too. I like to think that Tuomas' work, which enabled people to actually listen to Hiller's orchestral music, had something to do with the (still modest) revival of his work. As chuffed as I am with this release, I also hope that one day we'll hear a (human) performance of the 1883 F minor symphony, as well as the Symphonic Fantasy.

[terry martyn]

It is a must-buy for me as well, although I confess I am a bit more tepid about Hiller's compositions than Ilja and Mark.  He is listenable and even charming,but ultimately lacking "bite". The symphonies of Loewe and (dare I say) Pfyffer resonate more when I listen. The piano concertos  are all pleasant but not such as to excite me to repeat the hearing all that often,not as individual as,say,those of Eduard Franck. Perhaps it's the pianist on the Hyperion that makes the composer come across as feline,almost twee. I shall await the brickbats.....

Just my opinion,of course. It's still a must-buy, but maybe I will wait until the next volume of the Potter symphonies (also conducted by Griffiths) is released before doing so. And I have a feeling that I will probably play that Potter more often than this Hiller

[Gareth Vaughan]

Is the 1883 F minor symphony extant, Ilja? I thought it was lost. The Symphonic Fantasy (1868) exists, of course, in MS.

[tpaloj]

Ilja, are you perhaps referring to the 1833 Symphony in F minor, which has actually been recorded earlier in this series by Griffiths?

https://app.idagio.com/albums/ferdinand-hiller-symphony-op-67-and-symphony-in-f-minor

[Gareth Vaughan]

Sorry - I am muddling things here. I thought Ilja was referring to the Symphony "Im Freien" which is in G, not F minor and in any case dates from 1854/5. That is lost - as we established on this forum, I think. As far as I am aware, there is no symphony dating from 1883 - at least, there is nothing listed in Michael Gehlmann's (detailed and exhaustive) catalogue of Hiller's compositions. And, as Tuomas points out, the 1833 Symphony in F minor was recorded on the first CD of Hiller's symphonies. My apologies for confusing matters.

[tpaloj]

Establishing any definitive listing of Hiller's symphonies is inherently very difficult, partly due to the composer never numbering any of them.

(There's also an unfinished and presumably lost symphony from 1884/85 that I wrote about in this forum some time ago.)

[eschiss1]

well, he only published one of them, leaving information on the others to a diary he didn't intend for publication and occasionally performing some of them but not doing much to promote them. Some composers still number some of their unpublished symphonies anyway (and leave some unnumbered that are published and some that are unpublished, similarly some recognized in their worklists and some not, etc.), which I suppose makes the more sense as publication is out of their hands, though degree of promotion isn't entirely (and again, fairly sure Hiller put most of his promotional effort into Op.67, though some of the others were performed occasionally in his lifetime.)