Some of us will have heard of Klaus Huber, one of the silly-names brigade - one cannot think his compositional efforts are up to much. But let me introduce members to Hans Huber (1852 to 1921), a disc of whose works I have just acquired but not yet heard. Here is an anonymous review I have come across:

"Hans Huber's wonderfully recorded Piano Concerti with their symphonic dimensions, their opulent piano parts and their expressive style stand in the tradition of corresponding works of Brahms. However, the third piano concerto, with a fantasy form that one otherwise only finds in Saint-Saëns's music, widely surpasses Brahms. The recording leaves no wishes unfulfilled:  All of the musicians master these high-level scores with confidence. The Sterling Label, specializing in romantic rarities, and having already astounded the public with Huber's eight symphonies, attempts in a very successful experiment to prove that even Switzerland has excellent and original composers with their own musical expressiveness. Also the interpretive results of the not exactly world renowned artists is remarkable, you should rush to your next CD-shop and enrich your Audiotheque! The considerable strength of this disc lies in a magically performed and honestly recorded Third Concerto. This is an example of profundity and sincerity in the silver-plated realms of the romantic piano concerto. Sterling have on this occasion beaten Hyperion to the draw. With such a recording, Huber's music rates as one of the discoveries of the year!"

Praise indeed! One knows as yet nothing of this Huber and wonders whether one's audition will bear out the claim that the third of his four piano concerti far surpasses any of Brahms's! Are there members familiar with his productions?

That is certainly an astonishing claim and we do admire the way it manages to undermine itself between the second and third commas. We do indeed look forward to hearing Mrs K's impressions.

This is somewhat off-topic, but by accident I mentally added a colon as below, creating an interesting mental image of the din in your house at the moment (and the number of CD players you must have.)

I have on:
CD 2 of his piano concerti (nos. 1 and 3),
his 2nd Symphony,
an overture
and a Symphonic piece
plus the Op.100 Preludes and Fugues for piano duet. 

 

Ah Ruby2, you see some people may have 4 kidneys, but I don't have 4 ears!!    (actually, I'll check that in my book on Mutants later on...)

Many thanks to Member Jonathan for that interesting summary. I shall certainly be "on the look-out" for the opus 100 Preludes and Fugues.

In fact the third piano-forte concerto sounds nothing like Brahms at all - much more like a somewhat unadventurous Liszt. It is in four movements the first of which being, unusually, a passacaglia upon the main theme of the finale and the second a fine scherzo sort of thing. The whole makes pleasant enough listening, although it is much to be regretted that there is not more chromaticism - even Mozart in his day was able to do a good deal better in that department. Indeed at just a couple of spots we feel the harmonic structure to be amateurish and if we are not mistaken even downright wrong.

Grove's New Dictionary tells us that Huber was very popular in Switzerland because of his sunny disposition, but it omits the date of this third concerto! From other sources we glean that it was in fact first performed in 1899.