Hindemith's Harmonie

Started by Greta, March 21, 2008, 08:38:29 PM

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Karl Henning

Quote from: kyjo on October 17, 2017, 09:00:36 AM
I've begun making my way through the Hindemith quartet cycle - I've only heard the first three so far and I can already say that this is one of the most underrated SQ cycles out there. The Amar Quartet recordings on Naxos are superb. The early, newly-discovered 1st quartet is notable for its remarkable, haunting funeral march slow movement. The 2nd shows signs of neoclassicism but is still fundamentally Romantic - especially in the lovely second theme of the finale. The 3rd quartet - a masterpiece IMO - inhabits a darker, more chromatic world but is still thoroughly accessible.

Love them, absolutely.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Parsifal

Another thing on the pile of unheard essentials...

[asin]B000001RYQ[/asin]

The new erato

Quote from: kyjo on October 17, 2017, 09:00:36 AM
I've begun making my way through the Hindemith quartet cycle - I've only heard the first three so far and I can already say that this is one of the most underrated SQ cycles out there. The Amar Quartet recordings on Naxos are superb. The early, newly-discovered 1st quartet is notable for its remarkable, haunting funeral march slow movement. The 2nd shows signs of neoclassicism but is still fundamentally Romantic - especially in the lovely second theme of the finale. The 3rd quartet - a masterpiece IMO - inhabits a darker, more chromatic world but is still thoroughly accessible.
I've been promoting these as one of the major 20th century quartet cycles for years.

Monsieur Croche

#263
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 31, 2017, 10:21:18 AM
I remember someone saying that Hindemith was even more fun to play than to listen to.

FTFY.

My hunch is that is a revision of the more standard "_____ is more fun to play than to listen to."

Nonetheless, you got me to his Sancta Susanna, which is downright lovely, (and 'tense' etc.) and the Clarinet Quintet, which is also a highly engaging work!  But I am not too surprised; a goodly amount of earlier Hindemith is fresh, vital, and well worth investigating... i.e. what was written before he wrote his harmony text and codified the hierarchy of 'his' world of harmony.  After that, he was 'writing by the book,' (his book) and imo, a lot of the works he composed thereafter sound like generic parodies of... Hindemith.
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

pjme



Listening to the violinconcerto. I like serious music.
P.

Monsieur Croche

Quote from: snyprrr on June 01, 2009, 09:25:38 AM
One of my really really favorite works, period, is the Hindemith piece for piano, 2 harps, and brass...what is it called?..."something-musik" Op.39???

Konzertmusik for piano, brass, and two harps, op 49

a Czech recording....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv58mbkuWDA
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

Monsieur Croche

I think this particular score is near to only known to those who know of Oscar Schlemmer's Triadisches Ballett, a fun Bauhaus Ballet oddity, and a kind of period treasure.

The score is delightful, neoclassical mode, and has less of that "I can identify this as Hindemith within the first two seconds" sound than one usually expects.

The ballet is more than a little remarkable -- Bauhaus or other, it strikes the more contemporary eye as severely phantasmal / surreal :-)
https://www.youtube.com/v/mHQmnumnNgo
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

amw

The Lustige Sinfonietta mentioned above is probably my favourite orchestral piece by Hindemith.... unless the fourth Kammermusik counts as orchestral (chamber orchestra). I'm surprised the Sinfonietta (& also the early cello concerto Op. 3) are so rarely mentioned by basically anyone; that's the Hindemith period I find most appealing, sort of like if Richard Strauss was actually good. For some reason I lose interest around the same time the pieces stop having opus numbers although I will listen to eg the Symphony in E flat or Der Schwanendreher (sp) once in a while.

So I guess I kind of agree with M. Croche here. The string quartets have a similar problem where I like the first four a lot despite misgivings about length, and can't remember anything about the last three. That said of the "late" works I still have a lot of time for Ludus Tonalis

kyjo

"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

amw

That was a joke btw, I actually don't think Strauss is bad (just not really my thing) and my all time favourite piece by Hindemith, the viola and piano sonata Op. 11 no. 4, is extremely Straussian in its treatment of harmony and the set of variations that could come straight out of Don Quixote. Ish.

But yeah early Hindemith is good

kyjo

Quote from: amw on October 19, 2017, 03:02:31 PM
That was a joke btw, I actually don't think Strauss is bad (just not really my thing) and my all time favourite piece by Hindemith, the viola and piano sonata Op. 11 no. 4, is extremely Straussian in its treatment of harmony and the set of variations that could come straight out of Don Quixote. Ish.

But yeah early Hindemith is good

Ah, I see :) Yeah, Strauss used to not be my thing either, but recently I've come to appreciate his music. I agree with you about Hindemith's Viola Sonata op. 11/4 - a lovely piece. The opening always seems to be haunting my memory.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Karl Henning

Quote from: Monsieur Croche on October 19, 2017, 01:49:06 PM
Konzertmusik for piano, brass, and two harps, op 49

a Czech recording....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv58mbkuWDA

Quote from: Monsieur Croche on October 19, 2017, 02:10:12 PM
I think this particular score is near to only known to those who know of Oscar Schlemmer's Triadisches Ballett, a fun Bauhaus Ballet oddity, and a kind of period treasure.

The score is delightful, neoclassical mode, and has less of that "I can identify this as Hindemith within the first two seconds" sound than one usually expects.

The ballet is more than a little remarkable -- Bauhaus or other, it strikes the more contemporary eye as severely phantasmal / surreal :-)
https://www.youtube.com/v/mHQmnumnNgo

Excellent, both.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: amw on October 19, 2017, 03:02:31 PM
That was a joke btw, I actually don't think Strauss is bad (just not really my thing) and my all time favourite piece by Hindemith, the viola and piano sonata Op. 11 no. 4, is extremely Straussian in its treatment of harmony and the set of variations that could come straight out of Don Quixote. Ish.

But yeah early Hindemith is good

Quote from: kyjo on October 19, 2017, 08:48:37 PM
Ah, I see :) Yeah, Strauss used to not be my thing either, but recently I've come to appreciate his music. I agree with you about Hindemith's Viola Sonata op. 11/4 - a lovely piece. The opening always seems to be haunting my memory.


And there is the story of IIRC one of the Donaueschingen Festivals at which Strauss was the pre-eminent member of the panel, when Strauss said the the younger composer, "Why do you compose atonal music? You have talent."  To which Hindemith responded, "You write your music, Herr Doktor Professor, and I'll write mine."
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Monsieur Croche

Quote from: amw on October 19, 2017, 02:27:07 PM
....that's the Hindemith period I find most appealing, sort of like if Richard Strauss was actually good.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

Christo

Quote from: Monsieur Croche on October 20, 2017, 04:01:17 AM
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Exactly. Love Hindemith, and never enjoyed Strauss either - except for Eulenspiegel's pranks and a few pieces more, but very little indeed.  ???
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Zeus

Cross-posted from Current Listening:

I seem to have got bitten by the Hindemith bug.

New purchases and first listens:

Hindemith: Symphonia Serena, Die Harmonie der Welt
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Herbert Blomstedt
Decca

Hindemith: Works for Violin
Frank Peter Zimmermann, Frankfurt RSO, Paavo Jarvi
BIS

Walton, Hindemith: Cello Concertos
Christian Poltéra, Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra, Frank Shipway
BIS

also re-listening to Hindemith discs I already have:

Hindemith: Mathis der Maler, Nobilissima Visione, Symphonic Metamorphosis
Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Neschling
BIS

Hindemith: Sonatas for...
Various Artists
Harmonia Mundi

I'm quite enjoying this hunting and listening project, and may go for the Naxos string quartets next!

My wallet is mad at me!
"There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it." – Emmanuel Radnitzky (Man Ray)

Karl Henning

Well do I know that bug . . . .
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

SymphonicAddict

Making my path through the Hindemith's chamber music, I stumbled upon the Kammermusik (1922-1927). Starting with the Kleine Kammermusik for wind quintet and later with the Kammermusik No. 1, I have to say this is some of the quirkiest music I've heard lately. Man, this is so well-crafted, the combination for diverse instruments stands out (the Kammermusik No. 1 for flute, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, piano, harmonium, string quintet and percussion), one can also notice some sarcastic writing that makes these works thoroughly absorbing, not to mention those serious and heartfelt slow movements, which give the due contrast. This music is truly satisfying, carefree and cleverly written.

The Kammermusik series appears to be a source of assured entertainment.

About the recordings, what do you think is the best of them: Abbado on EMI or Chailly on Decca? I listened to the Kleine K. from Decca and the other from EMI.


Ghost of Baron Scarpia

I learned to love this music through the superb Chailly recordings and never found it necessary to look farther.

Mandryka

#279


This is the 1920s Marienleben. It is beautifully recorded. Juliane Banse's voice has a  characterful timbre, and she uses a rather noticeable vibrato. It is a sensual, heavy, "knowing" and mature sound; there's no hint of nativity or simplicity or indeed of the flirtatious soubrette. I can live with her voice, and in fact it may just be absolutely spot on given the poems' content. Martin Helmschen is very good IMO, but it's Banse's show.


Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen