...Does Hindemith = Dissonance?

[rubbernecker]

rn,

To your favourites I would add mine of the Four Temperaments and the Second String Quartet (Op.10), but not the Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber, which I can't stand, even though it is often put forward as a good introduction for newcomers to Hindemith. If it does that job, I'm all for it, but I just find it doesn't hold up to repeat listening.

I'm indifferent to it. I certainly don't mind listening to it, as I enjoy the wit and orchestration but it lacks the spirituality of his best work. I also rate the 4 Temperaments and forgot to add the Cello Concerto, the slow movement of which provided the theme for Walton's Variations.

[Freddie Campbell]

...I guess the Hindemith Metaporphis on Weber is more fun to Play Orchestrally than listen to...

[Freddie Campbell]

...I might add that my Hungarian Teacher felt Musicians & Listeners needed to become accostomed to the sounds of Dissonance as well as Harmony in order to appreciate Music
of 20th Cen! Under pressure I can recall Recording the Bliss Viola Sonata & simply NOT being
able to bring myself to Perform those false 3rds & 6ths in the Furriant! (I discovered I was
automatically adding ordinary 3rds & 6ths instead- I had yet to learn with the Hungarian)...

[LeMartinPecheur]

Fred,
Was Hindemith's dissonance ever funnier than this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kok-dZbOqUg

Or many other pieces? Glorious. Hoffnung should have included it in his concerts.

CN: shum mishtake shurely? This isn't Hindemith, you've ripped it off the R3 musicality test, the part where you have to say if it's the same piece transposed. In this case, I say definitely the green YES button

[Chris Newman]

Brill!!! Le MartinPecheur...I knew I could rely on something fishy from you. There's a plaice for us....

[Freddie Campbell]

...or Joseph Cooper?

[Parry1912]

but not the Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber, which I can't stand

Another for the Symphonic Metamorphoses (or Metamorphosis). Brilliant!

[Don Petter]

<< Originally Posted by Don Petter
but not the Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber, which I can't stand >>

Another for the Symphonic Metamorphoses (or Metamorphosis). Brilliant!

As long as you're voting for Hindemith, I shake you by the hand

[Freddie Campbell]

...Yes. It does take courage- as does Playing Hindemith!

[Martin]

Another for the Symphonic Metamorphoses (or Metamorphosis). Brilliant!

And me. It's the obvious entry point to Hindemith, and a well-crafted piece.

[Tapiola]

Votes here for Hindemith's Concerto for Orchestra (he invented the genre) in the composer's own recording, the opera Cardillac (a wonderful 1920s alternative to Wozzeck), and the Mathis der Maler opera. His 1920s piano music, e.g. In einer Nacht and Suite 1922, is much underperformed in my opinion.

[Don Petter]

And one I forgot. ('If you liked that, you'll like this' as they keep saying on a channel that shall be nameless.)

Following from the Mathis der Mahler Symphony, try the Harmonie der Welt Symphony, also derived from an opera, and much in the same harmonic mould.

[Freddie Campbell]

...And who Plays or listens to his Wind Sonatas-1 for each Instrument?
(even the Concertos are better known!)

[Barbirollians]

This seems to be about the only thread I can find on Hindemith with postings largely by long silent forumites.

Have always struggled with him until finding a terrific and entertaining account of his Symphonia Serena conducted by Brino Walter on Music and Arts - fascinating piece sensationally well conducted and played in a live concert from 1948 that includes Walter's magnificent Dvorak 8 . Anyone know this Hindemith piece well ?

[jayne lee wilson]

Plenty here, to read mark and inwardly etc....

from....

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?16517-Hindemith-Paul

(18/02/17...)

Like Bryn, I had a big craze for Hindemith and bought that very CPO intégrale box with Albert and various Australian orchestras myself, taking much pleasure in it. But the Chandos/Tortelier individual issues, complete or almost, do tend to surpass them for power, precision and beauty of sound, and for a more consistently inspired feel to the playing. They really should be in a box by now.

Less comprehensive is that Brilliant Box linked to by fhg upthread..https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hindemith-O...mith+brilliant. but with the crucial advantage of a truly idiomatic echt-German orchestral character, originally separate Berlin Classics issues with that warm, dark earthy sound often typical of the label. The Kegel recordings of the symphonies with the Dresden Phil were made in the acoustically-splendid Lukaskirche, where the Staatskapelle made many famous records. So pieces like the extraordinary slow march of the Pittsburgh Symphony (which has a strikingly Ivesian feel, with Dutch-Pennsylvanian folksong cutting across a grave austro-german adagio) come across with terrific atmosphere and impact.(***)
A lovely series, they've been favourites for some time - I bought the Brilliant set despite having the Berlin originals! Seduced by that film noir urban-atmospheric cover art(*). The transfers retain the excellent Edel sound.

The CPO, pioneering as it was, can sometimes seem just a bit routine and studio-bound. Still fond of it though, it includes rarities Tortelier never got around to, like the B flat Symphony for Concert Band, the two Sinfoniettas (including the weird parodistic Lustige Sinfonietta, 1916, inspired by Morgenstern's poetry) and the Nusch-Nuschi dances.

(***I've just played the Kegel/Dresden Phil disc of this - wow! Surely a clear top choice for the work. Exceptional sound and performance.)
Excellent set of the String Quartets here.... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hindemith-S...emith+quartets

(*) Hindemith releases are often inspired in this respect - Chandos mostly go for Arnold Böcklin, the Wergo series includes Magritte & de Chirico, CPO use a linked series of Ackerman abstracts...