Hindemith's Harmonie

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

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The new erato

#100
Quote from: Lethe Dmitriyevich Shostakovich on April 26, 2011, 01:58:02 PM
I can vouch for the quality of the CPO cycle, but a single disc I really enjoy is this one:

[asin]B000NJKYL8[/asin]

They really play the music as though the performers feel it is "great" and can stand alongside such a companion composer. I don't entirely agree about that for the cycle as a whole, but perhaps this disc proves me wrong :)
Agreed on both counts. Perhaps that should be all counts, I also agree that the Bartok cycle is in a class of its own, only superseeded by Beethoven, Hinedmith doesn't match that exalted level.

There's also a Testament disc with the Hollywood Quartet including one of Hindemiths quartets that is very good (Penguin Rosette):


snyprrr

I'm on a Hindemith kick!

Yay!!

As it figures, I am soooo tired of Orchestral Music that, as I was looking over the Library trying to figure out what to Get (should I send vanderdunnell a mss.?), the TraditionalChoice came up as Hindemith.

I don't have much of his Orchestral Works: the Ormandy Mathis/Weber, the Violin & Cello Concertos, and some of the Brass Music. I used to have the Chandos Harmonie/Serena disc,... don't know why I sold it (is Blomstedt better?). Oh, and I also have that great Delos/DePriest disc. Used to have the Piano Concerto (eh).


Has anyone heard the Organ Concerto? The Pittsburgh Symphony?


I was looking at the EMI and DG sets of Hindemith-Conducting-Hindemith. They look really scrumptious, I must say, as a Starter Kit, haha!! Hindemith's Music really does come alive when it is played right.


Did I say I was on a Hindemith kick?

eyeresist

I didn't much like the Blomstedt set. I don't think he has enough guts for this music, which always sounds best when the performers are a bit manic. Haven't heard the organ concerto. Have one record of the cello concerto which doesn't do much for me. Nor does the Pittsburgh, of which I have a couple of recordings. I have the Abbado set of the Kammermusik, but don't listen to it. Haven't yet found a recording of the Harmonie symphony which does it for me.

The EMI and DG sets are both good and necessary for any solid Hindemith collection. I particularly treasure the DG disc of the Symphonic Dances and The Four Temperaments (a piano concerto).
There's an Eloquence disc of the Mathis symphony conducted by Kletzki, Metamorphoses conducted by Abbado, and the violin concerto with Oistrakh and the composer, which is good value. Another Eloquence disc has Music for Brass and Strings conducted by Steinberg, and the Der Schwanendreher with Benyamani conducted by Barenboim, a lyrical performance which I greatly prefer to the one included in the Abbado set mentioned above. I haven't got any of the Tortelier CDs, but what I've heard has been pretty good.

There is also supposed to be some good stuff in the chamber music, but all I have is the late Octet, which is quite neat.

listener

If it hasn't occurred to you that Hindemith might have had a sense of humour, listen to these two pieces for string quartet : Ouverture zum "Fliegende Holländer"...  and "Minimax"   - like a Charles Ives from Bavaria.
As an infamous subtitle said "Sweet memories of this will bite me forever".
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

snyprrr

I'm listening to Blomstedt's Symphonia Serena/Symphonie "Die Harmonie der Welt" (Decca), and recall having the Tortelier many years ago. Not that the performance reminds, rather, I remember, "Oh, this is the Music that has In a Gadda da Vida buried in the first mvmt.", haha. And, it does, no?

I totally respect these 'Symphonies', and, in these stellar performances by the Gewandhausorchester (a surprise since I thought it was San Fran), one can simply luxuriate in the orchestral textures, and the polyphony. The Music itself I find to be kind of anonymous, which, in this case, I count as a Great Compliment: the Music has a fairly generic nobility that, in a way, does encompass the whole world (perhaps in a Vernesian sense?).

I do like the Epic way Harmonie opens, and the opening of the finale, too. However, we have a PostWar context here, which I think highlights a certain Germanic quality here,... I don't know, it sounds like perfect Reich Music to me. :-[ It has a certain Secular Bureauocracy(?),...mmm,...eh?

I just find these two works together to be quite a rich meal in all, very satisfying, without being so overpowering as to give you indigestion. The musical equivalent to beef bourgingon(?)?

eyeresist

Quote from: snyprrr on June 02, 2011, 01:03:13 PM
The Music itself I find to be kind of anonymous,

I would say that's courtesy of the conductor.

Archaic Torso of Apollo

Quote from: snyprrr on June 02, 2011, 01:03:13 PM
I just find these two works together to be quite a rich meal in all, very satisfying, without being so overpowering as to give you indigestion. The musical equivalent to beef bourgingon(?)?

Nice description...I have that Tortelier disc also (never heard Blomstedt). Both are solid works, tho' I don't rank them as high as Mathis der Maler. BTW, I have a strong suspicion that the Serena formed the inspiration for Vaughan Williams' 8th Symphony - the breakdown of the ensemble for different mvts. is very similar, as well as the overall untroubled mood.

Snip, do you know the Symphony in Eb? It may be my favorite Hindy piece of all. I've got Tortelier in that too.
formerly VELIMIR (before that, Spitvalve)

"Who knows not strict counterpoint, lives and dies an ignoramus" - CPE Bach

snyprrr

Quote from: Velimir on June 03, 2011, 12:45:34 AM
Snip, do you know the Symphony in Eb? It may be my favorite Hindy piece of all. I've got Tortelier in that too.

I've got the Boult on order (30 cents!!),... used to have that Bernstein Royal Ed.


But, please guys, do you not hear Gadda da Vida in Serena, towards the middle/end of the 1st mvmt.?


I was also listening to the two minor concertos, one for bassoon&trumpet, and one for winds&harp. Cutesy,... but not much to say.


Quote from: eyeresist on June 02, 2011, 06:13:55 PM
I would say that's courtesy of the conductor.


I mean anonymous more in the rounded corners of Hindemith's melodic lines. These pieces aren't as 'Pop' as Mathis (grand swelling, singable, bah bah bah), is what I mean,... I think they're more brain food than heart food,... I don't mean anonymous in a bad way: you can still tell it's Hindemith, but he's just not being uber obvious, like in Mathis. I mean, simply on a pre-school level, Beethoven's No.5 makes a lot of things sound fairly generically the same. Y'know what I mean?

Walter Piston's 5/7/8... now those I feel are anonymous in the sense I don't like.





snyprrr

The Sonata for Four Horns is one of the last Hindemith pieces to make my acquaintance. I think there is a fairly terrible YouTube by the Cambridge group,... sorry,... but,... there appears to be a few really cracking recordings.

A recording on ebs, "4X4", gots some great Amazon reviews, and the samples reveal an extraordinary blend. Other supergroups also have nice blends (though, that first one really made an impression). Does anyone have this piece?

karlhenning

Have now sprung for the cpo string quartets set.

karlhenning

Quote from: snyprrr on June 03, 2011, 07:55:38 AM
The Sonata for Four Horns is one of the last Hindemith pieces to make my acquaintance.

That piece I had not heard of before, but it sounds like it must be sweet.

BTW, I am astonished that you have not responded at all to my string quartet purchase
; )

snyprrr

Organ Concerto (1962)

This, Hindemith's last piece, seems also to be his rarest. Currently, there is only one recording, on Teldec/Apex (1980; 2003), other than the obligatory CPO release.

I seem to recall the Penguin Guide poo-pooing this work, saying it was in Hindemith's best 'ugly' tradition, which has only made me want to hear this work more! They also didn't like the Oktett, so, I figured, Who can I go wrong?

Surprisingly, the Concerto opens mysteriously. Marked 'Crescendo- Moderato assai', this is a very powerful mvmt., and true to word, is an orchestral crescendo that left a very intrigued impression.

The scherzo gets a bit thick 'n' thorny, and one can see where PG's opinion might have come from. Still, I find it very interesting, Hindemith writing this in 1962.

The slow mvmt., again, continues in this almost Horror Movie fashion. I know I'm throwing you off with that description, but there is a darkness here that makes one think this was written after 1963. Huh? There's no tunable humming here: it all sounds very serious, with thicks clouds of black smoke belching from PostWar Industry.

The finale is titled 'Phantasy on "Veni creator spiritus"', and does remind of Hindemith's earlier variations. The closer we get to the end, the more Mathis-y it gets. I'll stop here and continue on till the end.

Why does this remind me of Pettersson? Sounds nothing like it, but... ??

karlhenning

Quote from: snyprrr on June 09, 2011, 09:31:02 AM
Organ Concerto (1962)

This, Hindemith's last piece, seems also to be his rarest. Currently, there is only one recording, on Teldec/Apex (1980; 2003), other than the obligatory CPO release.

I seem to recall the Penguin Guide poo-pooing this work, saying it was in Hindemith's best 'ugly' tradition, which has only made me want to hear this work more! They also didn't like the Oktett, so, I figured, Who can I go wrong?

Surprisingly, the Concerto opens mysteriously.

Why surprisingly?  A lot of my favorite organ-playing experiences open quietly, in a way which seems eerily to peek out from the vast space.

snyprrr

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 09, 2011, 09:36:25 AM
Why surprisingly?  A lot of my favorite organ-playing experiences open quietly, in a way which seems eerily to peek out from the vast space.

I'm saying for PH,... I've never heard him open 'up from the depths' so to speak, and I've never heard a mvmt. entitled 'Crescendo' from him. I just thought it was quite a Last Work,... for PH to end with an Organ Concerto,... in 1962, in a style that probably wasn't all that hip at the time,... hmm, it's begging me to hear again, perhaps when the afternoon storm starts (hear you'll be getting a doosey tonight! why not cue up the OC, and we'll discuss?

snyprrr

Quote from: Velimir on June 03, 2011, 12:45:34 AM
Nice description...I have that Tortelier disc also (never heard Blomstedt). Both are solid works, tho' I don't rank them as high as Mathis der Maler. BTW, I have a strong suspicion that the Serena formed the inspiration for Vaughan Williams' 8th Symphony - the breakdown of the ensemble for different mvts. is very similar, as well as the overall untroubled mood.

Snip, do you know the Symphony in Eb? It may be my favorite Hindy piece of all. I've got Tortelier in that too.

I've been listening to Boult/LPO for two days now. I really like it. Grey, but not too. All the PH hallmarks are there, just in a fairly serious mode. It was one of the first fruits of his emigration, so Germany looms here. A very solid Nordic symphony! ;) It's the kind of straightforward piece that I can listen to over and over on an overcast day.

I don't remember that Bernstein Royal Edition I used to have, but this Everest recording delivers the goods just fine. Sounds better the louder you go.

snyprrr

Symphony in Bb for Band (1951)

For $100,000: how many Klavier and Citadel cds is this piece on,... c'mon c'mon!! :-*

I just got this perky little "The President's Own" United States Marine Band cd, which also includes Copland and Persichetti, and they dooo play 'well', haha!! ::) No,... really!! ;) This is quite a perfect little Band album.

The Hindemith was written for a genre with, to quote, "no literature", and does what it sets out to do. There's no need for analysis, it's just vintage Hindemith in three movements. Obviously, it's all in the delivery, and this performance ain't DiGiorno, let me tell ya! Somehow, I AM conforted knowing the Marine Band is playing, haha! ;) ;D 8)

Hindemith is such a meat & potatoes kind of Composer. :-*

karlhenning

Quote from: snyprrr on June 27, 2011, 11:20:53 AM
Symphony in Bb for Band (1951)

For $100,000: how many Klavier and Citadel cds is this piece on,... c'mon c'mon!! :-*

I just got this perky little "The President's Own" United States Marine Band cd, which also includes Copland and Persichetti, and they dooo play 'well', haha!! ::) No,... really!! ;) This is quite a perfect little Band album.

Nice! I've got that band playing Berlioz, nice outfit.

eyeresist

Please take your meds, snyprrr. I can't tell what the hell you're on about :(

snyprrr

Quote from: eyeresist on June 27, 2011, 05:47:06 PM
Please take your meds, snyprrr. I can't tell what the hell you're on about :(

huh?,... was it the delivery, or the DiGiorno??


I was just saying it's a very good brass cd,... the rest was just pepperoni! ;D

eyeresist


Pizza! Now there's something I can understand.