Paul HINDEMITH (1895-1963)
Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano (1938) [27:50]
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1939) [18:43]
Drei leichte Stüke for Cello and Piano (1938) [6:24]
Quintet for Clarinet, two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op.30 (1955) [20:34]
Annette von Hehn and Elisabeth Glass (violins); Hartmut Rohde (viola); Frank
Dodge (cello); Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer (clarinet); Ya-Fei Chuang (piano)
rec. Siemens Villa, Berlin, Germany, 10-11 March 2009. Stereo. DDD
NAXOS 8.572213 [73:31]
Hindemith’s music has been more susceptible than most to the changing
currents of musical taste since the war. He was certainly a versatile composer,
as the stylistic range of the works on this disc demonstrates. That said, the
English-speaking world has yet to embrace the composer in the same way as German
audiences, apprehensive of both his reputation for dispassionate Modernism
and the openly functional nature of his educational works.
This recording does little to dispel those prejudices. Each work presents a
different perspective on the composer’s inner dialectic between Brahmsian
Romantic expression and 20th century austerity. In the first work,
the Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano (1938), the two forces compete
as expressive linear melody versus ice-cold clarity of ensemble. Hindemith’s
use of instrumental colour to separate these lines is masterful, and is never
taken to excess, giving the unusual grouping a sense of inner logic. The clarinet
is the instrument that links nearly all the works on this disc, but it is Hindemith’s
use of the strings, the violin and especially the cello, that really elevates
this music. The cello has a natural expressivity that forms the ideal complement
to Hindemith’s austerity. The cellist here is Frank Dodge, the founder
of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, at which the recording was made. He brings both
an elegant tone and a suppleness of phrasing to this music, and his playing
across the range of the instrument is well served by the recorded sound - courtesy
of German Radio.
The Sonata for Clarinet and Piano of 1939 comes from the composer’s impressive
and still unmatched series of sonatas for every instrument of the orchestra.
What is fascinating to me about this music is how difficult it is to gauge
its indebtedness to Brahms. He is certainly there, in the wide-ranging clarinet
part, the way that phrases occasionally tail off with a sigh, and the disciplined
yet atmospheric accompaniment figurations. This is another fine performance,
well balanced, musically phrased, and finding a surprising amount of expressive
potential in Hindemith’s occasionally Spartan textures.
The Three Easy Pieces for Cello and Piano from 1938 is a curious inclusion.
It is very much an educational work, gebrauchsmusik in the strictest
sense. As such, I can’t help feeling that it would be better suited to
an exam syllabus than a chamber music recording. On the other hand, Hindemith
himself was committed to the principle that functionality and artistry need
not be mutually exclusive in music. But whatever the justification for their
inclusion, these brief works are convincingly rendered, Frank Dodge again putting
his seductive cello tone at Hindemith’s service.
The final work on the disc is the Quintet for Clarinet, two Violins, Viola
and Cello Op. 30. This work was written in 1923, but substantially revised
for its first publication in 1955. It is substantially more complex than the
other works on the disc, with five movements alternating fast and slow. The
faster movements present a range of prickly textures, the first in particular
combining pizzicato strings, driving ostinatos and an erratic clarinet line.
The slow movements have a delicacy that is rare in Hindemith’s music,
with expressive solos supported by the barest minimum of supporting textures.
Overall, the disc is well performed and well recorded. The packaging conforms
to recent Naxos conventions, and like Hindemith himself, the company is apparently
unconcerned about compromising artistic principles with bare functionality.
Clarinettists may be interested in the works on this CD, and Hindemith’s
important contributions to the instrument’s chamber repertoire are excellently
served here. But for a composer who divides opinion so sharply, this disc is
unlikely to win any new converts to his cause. At the end of the day, you either
love it or Hindemith.
Gavin Dixon