After the end of the First World War, he returned to
Frankfurt and founded the Amar-Hindemith Quartet in which he played the viola
from 1922 to 1929. He began building a reputation when his String Quartet Op.16
was performed at the Donaueschingen Music Festival of which he was a committee
member. In 1927, he was appointed as professor for composition at the
Hochschule für Musik in Berlin.
Early works included chamber music composed for the
Amar-Hindemith Quartet; the song cycles Die
junge Magd (The Young Maid)
(1922), and Das Marienleben (The Life of Mary) (1924 rev. 1948) and the opera Cardillac (1926). By the late 1920s Hindemith was regarded as the
foremost German composer of his generation.
He sought to revitalize tonality—the traditional harmonic
system that was being challenged by many other composers—and also pioneered in
the writing of Gebrauchsmusik, or “utility music,” compositions for everyday
occasions. An opponent of the 12-tone school of composer Arnold Schoenberg,
Hindemith formulated the principles of a harmonic system that was based on an
enlargement of traditional tonality.
Hindemith’s career as a composer reached a high point at the
beginning of the 1930s, but with the seizure of power by the National
Socialists, his works were declared as “culturally bolshevist” and disappeared
from concert programmes.
Perhaps his greatest work was the opera Mathis der Maler, concerning the artist Matthias Grünewald and his
struggles with society. The Nazi cultural authorities, led by Joseph Goebbels,
the Minister of Propaganda, banned the opera, denouncing the composer as a
‘cultural Bolshevist’ and ‘spiritual non-Aryan.’
During this time Hindemith travelled to Turkey where he
taught at the conservatory in Ankara and to the USA but, in 1936, a final ban
was issued for the performance of his works which led to Hindemith emigrating,
initially to Switzerland but subsequently to the USA where he acquired American
citizenship. As a professor, he taught
at Yale University from 1940 to 1953 and from 1951 to 1957, he was a professor
of musicology at Zurich University, settling in Blonay near Lake Geneva.
Other notable works by Hindemith include his Kammermusik series for small,
unconventional groups of instruments the Violin
Concerto (1939), the Cello Concerto (1940),
the Symphonic Metamorphoses After Themes
by Carl Maria von Weber (1946), and the opera Die Harmonie der Welt (The
Harmony of the World) (1957).
He died on 28 December 1963 in Frankfurt am Main.
BIS Records www.bis.se have
just released a very attractive recording of Hindemith’s works for violin. With
Frank Peter Zimmermann
www.ks-gasteig.de/en/kuenstleragentur/artists/violin/frank-peter-zimmermann and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/kultur/index.jsp?rubrik=2067&key=standard_document_857540 conducted by Paavo Järvi www.paavojarvi.com performing the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1939). Frank Peter Zimmermann
also plays the Sonata for solo Violin,
Op. 31 No.2 (1924) and in the Sonata in
E flat for Violin and Piano op.11 No.1, the Sonata in E for Violin and Piano (1935) and the Sonata in C for Violin and piano (1939)
Zimmermann is joined by pianist Enrico Pace www.nymusartists.com/artist/index/en/175
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| SACD BIS 2024 |
The soulful Langsam
unfolds beautifully in Zimmermann’s hands, with intricate little trills and
delicate motifs before becoming increasingly intense. The music eventually
returns to a quiet thoughtful nature with some lovely playing from Zimmermann who
holds the extended line of the violin with a tense, slow, steady concentration.
Zimmermann and the orchestra bring a lighter feel to the Lebhaft, as though trying to cast off
all gloomy thoughts. This movement is positively
skittish at times in its unstoppable forward momentum. The Frankfurt RSO is
terrific in the livelier sections for orchestra. The violin returns in a more
lyrical section, a lovely moment as the violin rises with the orchestra in a
typically Hindemithian sound. The theme is picked over quietly by the violin
with various woodwind instruments accompanying. The following cadenza is
brilliantly done by Zimmermann, not just virtuosic, which it most certainly is,
but thoughtful and delicate as well. The orchestra re-joins leading to a brilliant
coda, a real presto, with terrific playing from Zimmermann and the Frankfurt
RSO under Jarvi.
Hindemith’s little Sonata
for Solo Violin, Op.31, No.2 has a lovely opening Leicht bewegte Viertel with the soloist sounding as though he is
merely improvising a little tune. At one point I thought I could even hear
Debussy in the music which ends with odd little pizzicato notes. The second
movement Ruhig bewegte Achtel is more
dramatic, full of harmonic angst with superb playing from Zimmermann,
controlled yet virtuosic. The following Gemächliche
Viertel is terrific, a fragile little movement played pizzicato throughout.
The final Fünf Variationen über das Lied
‘Komm lieber Mai’ von Mozart. Leicht bewegt has a lilting theme from a song
by Mozart that is subjected to a series of variations, very much like a study
for violin with many virtuosic passages brilliantly played. There are some
rhapsodic episodes before the music returns gently to the opening theme.
There is a bold opening from the piano in the Erster Teil. Frisch of the two movement Sonata in E flat for Violin and Piano,
Op.11, No. 1 before the violin soon enters, with both performers frantically
playing off each other. A longer melody soon follows but despite the lighter
aspect of this movement there is occasionally a darker mood, certainly an instability
well captured by Zimmermann and Enrico Pace. The opening theme returns at the
end.
The second dance like movement Zweiter Teil. Im Zeitmaß eines langsamen, feierlichen Tanzes
concentrates on this more sombre atmosphere, Enrico Pace often playing in the
lower register to add to the gloom. Harmonically the music is very free. What a
fine performance this is.
The Sonata in E for
Violin and Piano has a lovely flowing melody in the Ruhig bewegt that rolls along, with the piano taking a fairly equal
role. There are lovely resonant chords from Zimmermann and, at times, it is as
though there is a conversation between the soloists. The second movement Langsam reveals a more passion melody,
with Zimmermann displaying some fine textures. Part way through the music
suddenly moves to a faster tempo, hurtling along, with Zimmermann and Pace a
brilliant partnership. The music slows again towards the end before a decisive
coda.
Hindemith’s Sonata in
C for Violin and Piano (1939) that preceded
his Violin Concerto by a few months, is one of his finest works. The lively Lebhaft opening moves ahead with great drive before the nostalgic
flowing second movement Langsam – Lebhaft
– Langsam, wie zuerst, which eventually gives way to the livelier Lebhaft
section that really dances along. Zimmermann controls his dynamics so
wonderfully and imperceptibly. The music finally returns to a slower tempo, beautifully
controlled, where the faster theme blends with the slower theme to bring this
movement to an end. The Fuge. Ruhig
bewegt has a terrific fugal melody where both artists brilliantly weave
around each other rising to a passionate central point before slowing and
quietening again. The music eventually rises to a decisive, rousing coda to end
this masterly sonata.
It is entrancing how much Hindemith is able to say in these relatively
short sonatas. I still retain an affection for David Oistrakh’s 1962 recording
of the Violin Concerto with the USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra under Gennady
Rozhdestvensky but with these fine performances recorded in such excellent
sound this new release is a must for those who wish to get to know this still
somewhat overlooked composer.
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