Hindemith

The patron saint of neglected instruments, Hindemith composed more than 30 sonatas for very diverse resources – including, unusually, such instruments as the bass tuba and double bass. Among the more obscure combinations is the Sonata for Althorn and Piano, which opens this arresting new disc, and stands out further for including a spoken dialogue between the two players (here, Teunis van der Zwart and Alexander Melnikov) at the start of its finale. Sonata-starved trombonists also value Hindemith’s contribution to their repertoire, but as Gérard Costes shows, this is not merely Gebrauchsmusik (utility music), useful only to performers themselves. Played with blazing tone by Jeroen Berwaerts, the Trumpet Sonata emerges with particular brilliance. These three brass sonatas generally come across with more subtlety than on the well-known recordings by Glenn Gould and friends. Anchoring this new project, Alexander Melnikov is a superbly thoughtful and questing pianist.

Vol. 3 of Lawrence Power's survey of the complete Hindemith work for viola features a cluster of works written for viola and orchestra in the short time between 1927 and 1930. Though Hindemith did not write a traditional concerto in the classical sense, the Op. 48 Konzertmusik, Kammermusik No. 5, and Der Schwanendreher each put the viola's abilities at the forefront of the orchestra. His personal knowledge of the instrument's technical, lyrical, and emotive abilities become quickly apparent as the viola is made to scurry around as nimbly as a violin in Konzertmusik, as emotionally rich as a cello in Trauermusik, or as colorful and evocative as a piano in Der Schwanendreher. All of these many moods are captured effortlessly by Power. His playing balances the clarity needed to execute agile passagework with the richness and depth needed for more lyrical sections. What's more, Power never gives the appearance of trying to make the viola sound like a violin; instead, he celebrates the viola's idiosyncrasies and transforms them into a rich, satisfying tapestry of sound. Joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under David Atherton, Vol. 3 of Power's hefty undertaking is just as worthwhile and engaging as the previous two and is certainly worth checking out.

Never one to relegate particular instruments to merely supporting roles, Hindemith composed his String Trio No. 1 (1924) with an eye (and ear) toward complete equality among the parts. The Trio is written in an almost constantly contrapuntal texture that makes much use of canon and fugue techniques; virtually the only instances where a homophonic texture is evident are those that mark important structural divisions of the movements. Though much of the music has an atonal feel, Hindemith provides a sense of direction by establishing tonal centers as points of momentary resolution. Typical of Hindemith's music of the early 1920s, the Trio is marked by a bracing, energetic spirit. The String Trio No. 2 strongly contrasts with its predecessor, the String Trio No. 1 (1924), which is marked by a strong feeling of atonality. When Hindemith wrote the present work nearly a decade later, his style had evolved somewhat. The Trio No. 2 is built on standard Classical forms but incorporates Hindemith's personal sense of tonality, in which any note or chord may be related to a given tonal center; the music has a refreshing, non-Romantic sound.

Bratsche! It’s not often that the German word for ‘viola’ comes with an exclamation mark attached, but the cover of Antoine Tamestit’s new release heralds something worth celebrating. Among the latest of the new star violists to record Hindemith, Tamestit brings his wonderful musical intelligence to bear on some of the greatest music written for the instrument. Tamestit has selected four contrasting works that reflect that composer’s expressive range: one of the solo sonatas, one of the sonatas with piano, and two very different works for viola and orchestra.

The viola was Hindemith's instrument (though he could play almost any), and he wrote some of his most expressive chamber music for it. This two-disc set includes all four of Hindemith's sonatas for solo violin and the three for viola and piano. I prefer the wildness of Hindemith's earlier music to the sometimes arid calm of his later music, so listeners like myself who like Hindemith can have a feast here as most of these are early works. They are played with energy and passion by an outstanding violist and a fine pianist.

The greatest strength of Oehms Classics' live recording of the Hamburg Staatsoper 2005 production of Mathis der Maler is the supple and dramatic conducting of Simone Young, the Australian general manager of the company. The score contains some of Hindemith's most overtly romantic and emotionally expressive music, as well as some extended passages that sound like academic note-spinning. Young is remarkably successful in accentuating the score's moments of sensuality, such as the opening "Concert of Angels," and manages to keep the dramatic momentum up during the more pedestrian passages. The sound is full, clean, and well balanced for a live opera performance.

This beautifully programmed CD presents three settings for viola and orchestra and a more eloquent statement about the beauty of the viola as an instrument would be hard to imagine (except for perhaps including Vaughan Williams' 'Flos Campi'). The viola finds that middle voice between violin and cello, a rich tone with a built in quality of mournfulness. That quality has inspired the works on this recording and the result is some of the more wistful music ever written. Dennis Russell Davies conducts the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra with the superb violist Kim Kashkashian.

Abbado’s mature style ‘in embryo’ together with a fairly impressive example of what Decca could achieve at the Kingsway Hall back in February 1968 (the odd conspicuous edit notwithstanding). The Janacek is basically quite similar to Abbado’s 1987 BPO remake, save that the opening Allegretto is slower and rather less assured that it later became and the Moderato has a more incisive attack from the brass, especially at around the central climax.

The final volume of Paul Hindemiths (1895-1963) youthful and fresh Kammermusik series from the 1920s includes Kammermusik Nos. 47 performed by Kronberg Academy Soloists and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra under a true Hindemith specialist, Christoph Eschenbach, who has won a Grammy for a previous Hindemith album on Ondine. These four works by Hindemith can be considered as full-bodied concertos for violin, viola, viola damore and organ. These work feature four young talented soloists, Stephen Waarts, Rimothy Ridout, Ziyu Shenand Christian Schmitt.