Paul Hindemith - Complete Viola Music, Vol. 3 (Lawrence Power)

Information

Composer: Paul Hindemith

• Konzertmusik, Op. 48
• Der Schwanendreher
• Trauermusik
• Kammermusik No. 5, Op. 36 No. 4

Lawrence Power, viola

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

David Atherton, conductor

Date: 2011

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Despite their varying titles and formats, the larger works here constitute Hindemith’s viola concertos Nos 1-3. Kammermusik No 5 (1927), still audibly a product of the enfant terrible of the early 1920s, already begins to hint at the later composer’s formal rigour, a conjunction of extremes carried further in the second of Hindemith’s much less well-known Konzertmusiken, scored for viola and large chamber orchestra (1930; the others comprise a suite for large wind band, a piano concerto with brass and harps and the diptych for strings and brass composed for the Boston Symphony’s 50th anniversary). In The Swan-turner (1935), Hindemith’s mature style – first heard in Das Unaufhörliche (1931) and writ large through Mathis der Maler (symphony and opera) – is fully realised.

Collections of the concertos (with or without Trauermusik of 1936) have been few and far between. Hyperion wisely avoids a chronological sequence, placing Konzertmusik first and Kammermusik last. Power’s affinity with Hindemith’s music is as evident in these new recordings as in previous instalments, his tone perfectly balanced between strength and delicacy, avoiding Cortese’s over-burnished sound, his being until now the finest collection and penetrating deeper to the music’s core than either Dean or Schmidt’s now ancient-sounding renditions on Koch Schwann. Hyperion’s beautifully natural recording is the best yet but it is the partnership with Atherton and the BBC Scottish that makes this such a rewarding listen; their performance of Kammermusik No 5 more than stands comparison with the best of the competition – Doktor and Kashkashian – and is swifter, too. Der Schwanendreher and the Konzertmusik really come alive and the icing is a touching Trauermusik which sounds like a newly discovered work. The new market leader, strongly recommended. Now, how about the viola d’amore works on Volume 4?

— Guy Rickards

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Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 – 28 December 1963) was a German composer and theorist. Studied in Frankfurt, he gained early experience as a violinist and became a prominent composer by the late 1920s. His works range from chamber music and song cycles to operas such as Mathis der Maler. He taught in Turkey, the United States and Switzerland. Opposed to twelve-tone techniques, he sought to revitalize tonality, developing his own harmonic theory, outlined in The Craft of Musical Composition. Hindemith also promoted Gebrauchsmusik ("utility music"), viewing composers as craftsmen serving social needs

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Lawrence Power (born 1977) is a British violist. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Juilliard School. Power won first prize in the Primrose International Viola Competition in 1999, and third prize at the Maurice Vieux International Viola Competition in 2000. Since his London solo debut with The Philharmonia, he has performed in the UK and abroad, appearing as soloist with many orchestras. He also has a prominent career as a chamber musician, as violist in the Nash Ensemble and the Leopold String Trio. Power plays a 17-inch (43.3 cm) viola by Antonio Brensi of Bologna from c.1610.

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