UK premiere information

[marshanp]

Simple question: is there an online resource which either

a) tells you whether a classical work which has been played somewhere has had a UK performance, or

b) gives a complete performance history for modern or recently premiered classical works?

I want to know whether the Third Symphony by Marcel Tyberg has been played in Europe or in the UK, with a view to encouraging a UK premiere.

 

[alanbeeb]

I've never found a resource like that..... A bit of persistent and dogged googling has to be used instead. Can't find any evidence of a UK performance of Tyberg's 3rd.

I just gave it a 2nd listen..... Sorry but I'm not feeling it, nothing memorable or original about it that my ears can detect.

The piano trio on the same Naxos disc is a much stronger piece IMO.

 

[ciderglider]

Have you tried looking on the website of Tyberg's publisher?

 

[alanbeeb]

Looking at a review of the disc, I think its almost certain there has never been a UK performance, and in fact it may have only ever been performed by JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic - and no-one else.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Nov13/Tyberg_sy2_8572822.htm
When, in 1943, the Nazis occupied Northern Italy, they ordered the inhabitants to declare any Jewish ancestry. Apparently in ignorance of the likely consequences, Marcel Tyberg's mother admitted that she and her family were originally from Croatia and of distantly Jewish descent. Ironically, she herself passed away before any action was taken against her, but her son the composer was quickly thereafter arrested and deported. Differing accounts suggest either that he died while en route to Auschwitz or that he was soon murdered there. Before his deportation, however, Tyberg had entrusted the manuscripts of his music to a friend. In turn, many years later, the son of that friend showed them to conductor JoAnn Falletta who was so struck by the music that she initiated a project with her Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra to bring it to the world's attention. This new recording is part of that enterprise (see here).

 

[marshanp]

Yes, I think it unlikely that the Third has been played beyond Buffalo, though the Second (for smaller forces) was premiered by Kubelik, no less, in the 30s and has (I believe) been given in Croatia relatively recently.

There is no published version of the score that I can find. I might try contacting Maestro Falletta.

 

[Dave H.]

Well it may not be much help in the wider aim, but I at least am pleased this cropped up.

I'd never heard of the symphony or even the composer, but listening to the third symphony now whilst WFH and rather enjoying it, albeit in a particularly bittersweet way given the context of the composer's tragic end.