ALISON BALSOM · TOM POSTER — Légende : Works for Trumpet and Piano (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Alison Balsom has been successful since the early 2000s with a standard diet of Baroque trumpet works and the usual Classical-period concertos. In the mid-2010s she turned toward more contemporary repertory with a French conservatory flavor. The results on the trumpet-and-piano Légende, named for the effusive Enescu piece (track five), are impressive; Balsom deepens her art with a coherent program even as she plays mostly music that could be characterized as light. Sample one of the movements of the opening Sonatine of the mightily underrated Jean Françaix, whose understated style, not so much humorous as subtle and elegant, poses challenges for a trumpet confined mostly to its middle register. Balsom's bright, perfectly controlled lines and close ensemble with pianist Tom Poster pass all the tests. After that you get a mix of other neoclassic pieces, the heavier Hindemith Trumpet Sonata in the middle, and popular songs, small chunks all hanging together that stimulate the listener even without awareness of same. Brava. James Manheim
Tracklist :
1-4.    Sonatine Pour Trompette Et Piano (6:50)
Composed By – Jean Françaix
5. Légende For Trumpet And Piano 6:09
Composed By – George Enescu
6. Concert Etude, Op.49 (3:17)
Composed By – Alexander Goedicke
7-11. Farewell To Stromness 3:52
Composed By – Peter Maxwell Davies
Transcription By – A. Balsom, T. Poster
8-11.    Sonata For Trumpet And Piano (15:47)
Composed By – Paul Hindemith
12. Minuet From Sonatine (Piano Solo) 3:36
Composed By – Maurice Ravel
13.    The Thoughts Of Dr May 6:27
Composed By – Alison Balsom, Tom Poster
14.    Sonate For Trumpet And Piano 7:05
Composed By – Bohuslav Martinů
15.    Rondo For Lifey1:19
Composed By – Leonard Bernstein
16.    Someone To Watch Over Me 4:00
Arranged By – J. Turrin
Composed By – George Gershwin
17.    The Way You Look Tonight 2:52
Arranged By – A. Balsom, T. Poster
Composed By – Jerome Kern
Credits :
Piano – Tom Poster
Trumpet – Alison Balsom

HINDEMITH : Complete String Quartets (Amar Quartet) 3CD (2017) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

From the bracing dynamism of the earlier quartets to the technical sophistication of the later works, Paul Hindemith’s seven String Quartets include some of his supreme chamber music masterpieces and form one of the 20th century’s greatest quartet cycles. The award-winning Amar Quartet is named after Hindemith’s own eminent ensemble of the 1920s, and their acclaimed performances explore and express every aspect of the composer’s passion and intellectual rigour in this genre. ClassicsToday.com considers these recordings ‘outstanding… an endless source of pleasure… there is little doubt that this will become the reference edition in this music.’ naxos
 Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
CD1    String Quartet No. 2 In F Minor, Op. 10 (1918)    (33:13)
    String Quartet No. 3 In C Major, Op. 16 (1920)    (31:26)
CD2    String Quartet No. 5, Op. 32 (1923)    (30:17)
    String Quartet No. 6 In E Flat (1943)    (24:34)
    String Quartet No. 7 In E Flat (1945)    (16:22)
CD3    String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2 (1914-15)    (41:25)
    String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22 (1921)    (25:58)
    Ensemble – Amar Quartet
    Viola – Hannes Bärtschi
    Cello – Péter Somodari
    Violin – Anna Brunner, Igor Keller

HINDEMITH : Viola Concertos (Brett Dean · Queensland Symphony Orchestra· Werner Andreas Albert) (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

HINDEMITH, PENDERECKI : Violin Concertos (Bernstein, Stern) (1995) FLAC (tracks), lossless

 Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

1-3    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Conductor – Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra – The New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Violin – Isaac Stern

Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020)

4-8    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Conductor – Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Orchestra – Minnesota Orchestra
Violin – Isaac Stern

HINDEMITH : Bratsche! (Antoine Tamestit) (2013) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

HINDEMITH : Orchestral Music (Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra · Herbert Kegel) 5xCD | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

1.1    Symphony 'Mathis Der Maler'
Concerto For Trumpet, Bassoon And Strings
Nobilissima Visione - Orchestral Suite
2.2    Symphony In E Flat
Symphonia Serena
3.3    Symphony 'Die Harmonie Der Welt'
Pittsburg Symphony
4.4    Der Schwanendreher
Trauermusik
Symphonic Metamorphosis After Themes By Carl Maria Von Weber
5.5    Wir Bauen Eine Stadt
Kinderlieder By Miscellaneous Composers

HINDEMITH : Nobilissima Visione · Mathis der Maler · Metamorphosen (São Paulo Symphony Orchestra · John Neschling) (2011) SACD , Hybrid | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

 This attractive album featuring the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra led by John Neschling includes three of Hindemith's most popular and appealing orchestral scores, all dating from the mid-'30s. Mathis der Maler, a 1934 symphony made up of three movements the composer incorporated into his opera of the same name, is a work with a mysteriously effective consolidation of seemingly disparate elements; it comes across as austere yet deeply intimate, and radiantly pure yet full of passion and ardor. Nobility is difficult to define in musical terms, but it's a quality that can be applied without reservation to Hindemith's majestic, warmly humane symphony. Nobilissima visione (1938), a suite based on a ballet about St. Francis, inhabits a similar emotional and musical world. It's a lovely, often serene piece, but it doesn't rise to the same transcendent level of inspiration as the earlier work. Symphonic Metamorphosis uses essentially the same harmonic language as the other pieces, but to an entirely different effect. Early in his career the composer was a brash, irreverent iconoclast and he wrote plenty of surreally humorous music, but by this mature phase in his career he was known for his sober rationality rather than for wit. Three of the four movements of Symphonic Metamorphosis, though, burble and erupt with a sense of extravagant whimsy that seems more characteristic of Prokofiev at his goofiest than of Hindemith. It's a wild ride, and terrifically fun. Neschling leads performances of exceptional insight, subtlety, and attention to detail. He makes the Mathis symphony really glow, and he revels in the absurdities of Symphonic Metamorphosis. The playing of the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra is world-class, and its sound is full and polished. The most notable aspects of the performances are the superb balance and the nuanced attention to the shadings of dynamics, which allow orchestral details to shine. Part of the credit for the clarity and lively sound certainly also goes to the excellent work of the engineers of BIS' SACD. Stephen Eddins

Paul Hindemith. P (1895-1963)
1-3    Mathis Der Maler, Symphony (1934)    (27:16)
4-6    Sinfonietta No. 1, Op. 41    (22:08)
7-10    Symphonic Metamorphosis On Themes Of Carl Maria von Weber (1938)    (21:28)

Conductor – John Neschling
Cover – Paul Klee
Orchestra – São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Violin, Leader – Cláudio Cruz  

HINDEMITH : Kleine Kammermusik (Valerius Ensemble) (2013) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

PAUL HINDEMITH : Complete Sonatas Vol. 1 (Ensemble Villa Musica) (1997) APE (image+.cue), lossless

 

PAUL HINDEMITH : Complete Sonatas Vol. 2 (Ensemble Villa Musica) (1997) APE (image+.cue), lossless

The MDG label prides itself on maintaining the "natural acoustics" of the concert halls in which recordings are made, and shy away from modifying the sound with added reverberation and the like. Listening to this disc makes you wish that more labels would follow suit, especially for small chamber works like these. The resulting sound is very much like attending a live performance -- balance and clarity are left to the performers rather than post hoc sound engineers.
The members of the Ensemble Villa Musica heard in this recording represent the rest of the ensemble well. Each of the solo instrumentalists gives energetic and lustrous performances of the sonatas. Superb technique and intonation meet pleasantly splendid musicianship and thoughtful interpretations. The common thread among all of these sonatas is pianist Kalle Randalu. His playing is always elegant, and he delivers each of the fiendishly difficult accompaniment parts with remarkable clarity and individual sensitivity to each of the different instruments with whom he is playing. Collectors of Hindemith's vast output for piano and solo instrument are well-advised to check out this series. by Mike D. Brownell 

PAUL HINDEMITH : Complete Sonatas Vol. 3 (Ensemble Villa Musica) (1998) APE (image+.cue), lossless

 

PAUL HINDEMITH : Complete Sonatas Vol. 4 (Ensemble Villa Musica) (1997) APE (image+.cue), lossless

 

PAUL HINDEMITH : Complete Sonatas Vol. 5 (Ensemble Villa Musica) (1996) APE (image+.cue), lossless

 

PAUL HINDEMITH : Complete Sonatas Vol. 6 (Ensemble Villa Musica) (1996) APE (image+.cue), lossless

 

PAUL HINDEMITH : Complete Sonatas Vol. 7 (Ensemble Villa Musica) (1997) APE (image+.cue), lossless

 

 

HINDEMITH : Violin Sonatas & Concerto (Frank Peter Zimmermann · Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra · Paavo Järvi · Enrico Pace) (2013) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The music of Paul Hindemith can't be called crowd-pleasing. Even the overtly radical works of Schoenberg and Webern carried well-defined innovations that listeners might be excited by or reject, but with Hindemith there's always the sense that he is experimenting with the solution to a new problem each time out. Of course, this can just as easily be a stimulating challenge as a problem, and this collection of works for a single instrument from across Hindemith's career provides a good way into his music. Violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, joined in Hindemith's sole full-scale violin concerto (quite an underplayed work, perhaps because it is so atypical) by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, deliver very strong performances expertly modulated to works of very different types. The performers show little faith in their audience by beginning with the Violin Concerto of 1939, for it really belongs at the end of the career traced by the four works for violin and piano or violin solo. The concerto is an unusually passionate work for Hindemith, and annotator Malcolm MacDonald is probably right in linking it to the composer's reaction to the outbreak of World War II. The smaller works are, true to form, all different: the Debussy-influenced Violin Sonata in E flat major, Op. 11/1, the almost whimsical Sonata for solo violin, Op. 31/2, the coolly abstract Violin Sonata in E major of 1935, and the entirely novel Violin Sonata in C major of 1939, each of whose movements is longer than the one that precedes it. Zimmermann and Järvi give a sense of this music as it unfolded against the backdrop of the Weimar Republic and the increasing Nazi cultural oppression that followed it, and they communicate something of the elusive whole that lies behind Hindemith's individual utterances. Highly recommended. James Manheim

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

1-3    Concerto For Violin And Orchestra (1939)    (27:15)
4-6    Sonata For Solo Violin, Op. 31 No. 2 (1924) 'Es Ist So Schönes Wetter Draußen'     (9:05)
7-9    Sonata In E Flat For Violin And Piano, Op. 11 No. 1 (1918)    (8:40)
10-11    Sonata In E For Violin And Piano (1935)    (9:10)
12-14    Sonata In C For Violin And Piano (1939)    (12:42)

Conductor – Paavo Järvi (tracks: 1 to 3)
Orchestra – Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (tracks: 1 to 3)
Piano – Enrico Pace (tracks: 8 to 14)
Violin – Frank Peter Zimmermann

BRITTEN & HINDEMITH : Violin Concertos (Arabella Steinbacher · Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin · Vladimir Jurowski) (2017) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

There are few clearer demonstrations of the high level of technical ability among violinists today than the profusion of good recordings of Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto, Op. 15, which Jascha Heifetz said was unplayable, but which is confidently taken on here by Arabella Steinbacher, accompanied by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Vladimir Jurowski. It is indeed a fearsome virtuoso essay, one of the few Britten wrote. One factor recommending this version over others is the pairing with Paul Hindemith's Violin Concerto, not a work commonly heard in the 21st century. It makes sense here: both concertos were composed in 1939, and the Britten has the flavor of a work prepared for the extroverted American market. The Hindemith has, perhaps, a different, more melancholy flavor of exile. Sample Steinbacher's performance in the slashing second movement of the Britten, where her perfect control does suggest Heifetz. The two concertos also both refer to Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, both in their timpani strokes and in a more general relationship of soloist to orchestra; Jurowski's accompaniment is unusually sensitive and well-integrated with Steinbacher's lines. Pentatone's studio sound, rather eerily clear, is another major attraction. James Manheim  
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Violin Concerto Op. 15
1    Moderato Con Moto    10:17
2    Vivace - Largamente - Cadenza    9:12
3    Passacaglia, Andante Lento (Un Poco Meno Mosso)    15:23

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Violin Concerto
4    Mässig Bewegte Halbe    9:56
5    Langsam    10:03
6    Lebhaft    10:44

Conductor – Vladimir Jurowski
Orchestra – Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Violin – Arabella Steinbacher

MARTINU • HINDEMITH • HONEGGER : Cello Konzerte (Johannes Moser · Deutsche Radio Philharmonie · Christoph Poppen) (2011) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Though their national heritages differed as widely as their musical backgrounds and mature musical language, contemporaries Martinu, Hindemith, and Honegger each turned their backs on the highly popular and influential serial movement and blazed their own paths. Their cello concertos serve as ideal illustrations; from the Czech infused rhythmic intensity of the Martinu to the lean, academic focus of the Hindemith, to the nearly palpable colors and textures of Honegger, these three concertos are highly individualistic yet work quite well together on a disc. Cellist Johannes Moser appears again on the Hänssler Classic label along with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under Christoph Poppen for performances as vibrant and intriguing as the compositions themselves. This type of music -- which combines elements of both demanding technical bravura across the range of the instrument with moments of passionate lyrical beauty -- seems to be Moser's forte. His left hand here is staggeringly precise, no matter how big the shift, how awkward the chord, or how rapid the passagework. This technical ease allows listeners to remove their attention from the actual execution of the score and instead focus on the enjoyable musical content. Moser's sound is quite powerful, though never forced, and from low to high pitches he penetrates the sometimes dense orchestration with ease. Poppen's orchestra is just as precise and nuanced as Moser, and their collaboration results in a truly enjoyable listening experience. Mike D. Brownell 

HINDEMITH : String Quartets • 1 -String Quartets Nos. 2 and 3 (Amar Quartet) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Somewhat surprisingly, the first volume of Naxos' collection of Paul Hindemith's seven string quartets doesn't begin with the String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 2, presumably because of the series' space requirements, but skips ahead to the String Quartet No. 2 in F minor, Op. 10, and the String Quartet No. 3 in C major, Op. 16. These youthful works reflect the composer's ingenuity and love of parody, particularly of Romantic clichés, though his humor is still respectful of the conventions of the genre and never slapstick. The second quartet at times veers off into wildly chromatic modulations worthy of Max Reger, and some dissonant counterpoint that is fairly experimental, though these excursions are balanced with episodes of unclouded tonality and playful repartée. The third quartet is even more sophisticated, offering a mix of serious thematic argumentation and lively exchanges between the players, and revealing a more consistent and organic approach to developing material. The Amar Quartet, named after the quartet Hindemith founded in 1922, is outstanding in its interpretation of Hindemith's changeable and often enigmatic music, and the musicians play with exceptional vigor, sensitivity, and presence. While Hindemith's reputation has suffered in recent years, due to a perception that his music is too cerebral, this album will give listeners an opportunity to reassess his work, and to appreciate his considerable wit and inventiveness. The recording is clear and close up to the players, though the acoustics are fairly dry and limited in resonance. Blair Sanderson  

HINDEMITH : String Quartets • 2 (Amar Quartet) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

As an elite string player, whose Amar Quartet was one of Europe’s most exploratory chamber groups, Hindemith was perfectly placed to write his powerful sequence of string quartets. One of the greatest quartets of its time, the technically sophisticated No 5, Op 32 reveals Hindemith as a master of the medium. Twenty years were to pass before No 6 in E flat, written in America, which reveals similar qualities of control, whilst No 7 in E flat was written for himself to play in a domestic setting with female students from Yale University and his wife, an amateur cellist. It concludes one of the twentieth century’s greatest cycles of quartets. www.naxos.com