Symphonies in E minor & C major (2026)

"Ferdinand Hiller’s music went out of fashion after his death and is not well-known today, but the cpo label has already released a recording of the Symphony op. 67 and Symphony in F minor (555 625-2), alongside further discs with chamber and piano works. It seems he was a key figure in 19th century musical life in Germany, being close friends with the likes of Rossini, Liszt, Berlioz and particularly Mendelssohn. Hiller was the son of a wealthy industrialist from Frankfurt, and he had the good fortune to be a pupil of Johann Nepomuk Hummel in Weimar from the age of ten. He lived for several years in Paris and finally settled in Cologne in 1850, taking over directorship of the Gürzenich Orchestra and the municipal conservatory, becoming organiser of the Lower Rhine Music Festival and generally playing a leading role in the Cologne music scene. Following on from their recording of the two middle symphonies in this set of four, Howard Griffiths and the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt (Oder) can be very happy with this framing of the set with the first and last of Hiller’s surviving symphonies. The orchestral playing is very good and set in the suitably resonant acoustic of its home venue, a space that suits Hiller’s orchestration perfectly. Griffiths brings out the best in his musicians who, for the most part, sound as if they have been playing these works for donkey’s years." (MusicWeb International)

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