Viertel

First volume in a series dedicated to Paul Hindemith’s (1895–1963) chamber works includes the first three works in his Kammermusik series together with Kleine Kammermusik written for a wind quintet. This album continues a successful series of recordings of Hindemith’s music together with conductor Christoph Eschenbach. This series has earned him, among others, a Grammy award. These recordings of chamber music have been recorded with a group of young promising artists, including pianist Christopher Park and cellist Bruno Philippe who are playing the solo parts in the ‘Concertos’, Op. 36.

Hindemith was not only a composer but also a hugely talented viola player who wrote a number of remarkable, innovative works for his instrument. The piano-accompanied sonatas are relatively wellknown, so too the Trauermusik composed in a single evening to mark the death of King George V. The solo viola works have had less attention: Hindemith referred to them as Gebrauchsmusik, by which he meant compositions with simple, linear structures, often intended for amateur players: music that responded to a particular need or use.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was arguably THE pivotal composer who launched the 20th century avant-garde in classical music. Along with his students Alban Berg, Anton Webern, and Hanns Eisler - the Second Vienna School - Schoenberg exploded the late Romantic soundworld and opened up new worlds of possibilities, first with atonal expressionism, and later with the innovative serialist system of composition.