Paul Hindemith - Kammermusik (Riccardo Chailly)

Information

Composer: Paul Hindemith

CD1

• Kammermusik No. 1, Op. 24 No. 1 (for 12 instruments)
• Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24 No. 2 (for wind quintet)
• Kammermusik No. 2, Op. 36 No. 1 (Piano Concerto)
• Kammermusik No. 3, Op. 36 No. 2 (Cello Concerto)

CD2

• Kammermusik No. 4, Op. 36 No. 3 (Violin Concerto)
• Kammermusik No. 5, Op. 36 No. 4 (Viola Concerto)
• Kammermusik No. 6, Op. 46 No. 1 (Concerto for for viola d'amore & chamber orchestra)
• Kammermusik No. 7, Op. 46 No. 2 (Concerto for for organ & chamber orchestra)

Ronald Brautigam, piano

Lynn Harrell, cello

Konstanty Kulka, violin

Kim Kashkashian, viola

Norbert Blume, viola d'amore

Leo van Doeselaar, organ

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Date: 1992

Label: Decca

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Review

Hindemith’s Kammermusik series is a creature of the 1920s written by one of the non-conformist young lions of that era. Their locale was Baden-Baden and Frankfurt. Very much part of the neo-Baroque and Grosz fusion, the music is freewheeling, swerving, swallow-diving, bouncing tangentially off circles created by Berg and Weill.

The organ work (No. 7) is densely overpowering in the first movement, seemingly suspended wraithlike between worlds in the quiet second movement and finally full of jerky restlessness. This is music drained of romance but vigorous and scathing but then nether could any of these works be accused of being windy or overblown.

Hindemith finds a certain ruddy-cheeked cheeriness too. The finale of the viola d’amore work has echoes of the wonderful Schwanendreher concerto. Kammermusic No. 1 gives the impression of a stripped-down Petrushka taken hell-for-leather, often sounding like a great wheezing music box. By contrast the second movement is very tender and loving. The finale hums with vinegary corrosive action accentuated by Miny Dekkers’ accordion. If you know the wild xyklophone solo in first movement of Havergal Brian’s Gothic you will know what to expect. The deliciously edgy sound of the raucously cheeky trumpet throughout and the motoric pellmell of it all makes this set really memorable. Sparks fly everywhere in the brilliant and hurtling first and last movements of No. 2. Kulka makes quicksilver capital out of the acridity and vitriol of the Fourth - interesting to hear him out of his accustomed Szymanowski loop. His pianissimo sprint in the finale is unremittingly impressive but then Kashkashian (soon to up-sticks in favour of ECM) makes a similar impression. These are virtuoso concertos every one.

Slightly out of the sequence is the Kleine Kammermusik which is louche and light - rather like Façade. The clarinet plays the clarinet ragamuffin in Schnelle Viertel. Generally the woodwind show breathtaking unanimity of attack.

Calum Macdonald in his fine notes reminds us that the expression ‘Kammermusik’ is best understood by contrast with the grandiloquently specified orchestras of Mahler and Strauss to which this series was in some measure a reaction. The Hindemith orchestra here is of modest scale by comparison. The Chailly-picked members are listed in the booklet.

Nearly two hours and twenty minutes of musicmaking and festively brilliant writing and playing.

— Rob Barnett

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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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Riccardo Chailly (born 20 February 1953) is an Italian conductor. Born in Milan, he initially studied composition before turning to conducting, debuting at La Scala in 1978 after serving as assistant to Claudio Abbado. As principal conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, he championed core symphonic repertoire while significantly expanding its twentieth-century and contemporary works. Chailly has held prominent posts with the Gewandhausorchester, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Teatro Comunale of Bologna. He is currently music director of both the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and La Scala.

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