Composer Remembered…
Before he was executed at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, Marcel Tyberg gave all of his musical scores to one of his piano students. Mr. Tyberg was 1/16 Jewish, but sensed what may be happening to him…
More than fifty years after Tyberg died in Auschwitz, that young piano student gave the music to conductor JoAnn Falletta, of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. They presented the world premiere of Tyberg’s Symphony No. 3 in 2008.
The symphony, written in 1943, is in the usual four movements and calls for a large orchestra. It is extremely melodic, has attractive orchestration and rhythmic variety. It also has an Adagio movement that is emotionally quite expressive. The Allegro finale has an engagingly melodic and rhythmically syncopated theme that gets the full symphonic workout. Yes… you’ll hear strong similarity to Mahler, Bruckner and other composers who seemed to have influenced Tyberg.
Also on this recording is Tyberg’s Piano Trio is from 1935-36; it and sounds a lot more like Brahms or Schumann than Mahler or Bruckner. Its melodies sound fresh and original, however they may resemble those of older composers. It is given a strong performance by the Buffalo musicians.
Here is JoAnn Falletta with a brief interview regarding this music:
Tags: Marcell Tyberg, Auschwitz, JoAnn Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra