Hubay was an example
of that musician genus which combined
virtuoso performance with composition,
from Paganini and extending throughout
to the 19th and 20th
centuries. Cannily they used their platform
appearances as opportunities not only
to showcase their talents but also to
play their own compositions. Hungary
provided a rich seam from Liszt and
Joachim to Hubay and Szigeti. Hubay’s
output was considerable, with 126 published
works including four symphonies, eight
operas and many works for violin - four
concertos - with orchestra or piano
to his name. He was also a distinguished
pedagogue with an impressive list of
protégés from the aforementioned
Szigeti, to Franz de Vécsey,
Jelly d’Aranyi, Székely, Ormandy
(later a conductor), Tibor Vargá
and Sandor Végh. Hubay was born
(in Budapest) into a musical family;
his violinist father was also a conductor
and teacher. By the age of eleven he
had made his concerto debut (Viotti),
and as a teenager went first to Berlin
to study with his compatriot Joachim,
and then back to Budapest to Liszt for
composition. Lastly he went to Paris
to study with Vieuxtemps, with whom
he became close as friend and amanuensis,
before beginning his performing career
in earnest with tours of European countries.
After four years as principal professor
of violin at Brussels Conservatoire,
he returned to Budapest to succeed his
father at the Conservatoire (1886-1899),
and also at the Academy of Music. There
he performed with the young student
Bartók in 1901, becoming its
Director between 1919 and 1934. So clearly
for half a century, until his death
in 1937, Hubay was the dominant figure
in Hungarian musical life. His string
quartet included the distinguished cellist
David Popper. On 22 December 1888 Brahms
came to Budapest and gave the premiere
of his third violin sonata with Hubay,
an accolade indeed.
Stunningly played here
by Hagai Shaham and impeccably accompanied
by the BBCSSO under the solid guidance
of Martyn Brabbins, the flavour of Hubay’s
music lies in its Hungarian style, gypsy
music-led (à la Zingara)
rather than Magyar folk music, later
favoured by Bartók and Kodály.
The First Concerto was dedicated
to Joachim and is very much the product
of the last years of the 19th
century, with traits of Brahms and Bruch
clearly evident. Most striking is its
beautiful slow movement dominated by
flute and harp. The first tends to follow
conventional sonata form, the last combines
thrilling moments of virtuosity with
episodes of lyricism. The early four-movement
Suite looks back to an earlier
Baroque age with its titles such as
Gavotte, Idyll and Intermezzo.
It once again reveals Hubay’s gift for
melody in the charming and lushly scored
Idyll; clearly the harp
was favoured. The tri-partite Gavotte
displays a wide degree of invention
in the variation form, which gives cyclical
shape to the work by returning in the
Finale. If the Intermezzo
and Finale are anything to
go by, Hubay’s technique was something
to be reckoned with; bow and fingers
have to fly. The Second Concerto,
while by no means abandoning his quintessential
Romantic style, has more of a reflective
mood in the improvisatory variations
forming the slow movement. It also evinces
a feel for the simplicity of folk music
and folk dance respectively in the outer
pair. Above all Hubay’s music remains
a showcase for his own playing talents,
particularly in the jolly finale
which has plenty of tours de
forces.
The virtuosic demands
of Hubay’s music are more than adequately
met by the formidable technique of violinist
Hagai Shaham. One has to admire and
be grateful to such musicians as he,
for learning the music on this disc
probably carries with it little promise
that concert engagements of Hubay’s
music will follow. His name - like so
many other composers one could list
- is not, nor probably ever will be
box office, though surely no audience
would be disappointed with the result.
Once concert managements had agreed
to take the risk (unlikely), it’s (only!)
a matter of getting an audience to come
to the concert hall. Meanwhile, thanks
to recording companies such as Hyperion,
of whose ‘Romantic Violin Concerto’
series this CD forms the sixth instalment,
we can sit back and enjoy this otherwise
forgotten music.
Christopher Fifield
Hagai Shaham (violin) 
for
details
