Paul Hindemith - Wind Sonatas (Les Vents Français)

Information

Composer: Paul Hindemith

• Flute Sonata
• Oboe Sonata
• Clarinet Sonata
• Bassoon Sonata
• Althorn Sonata

Les Vents Français

    Emmanuel Pahud, flute

    François Leleux, oboe

    Paul Meyer, clarinet

    Radovan Vlatković, tenor horn

    Gilbert Audin, bassoon

&

Éric Le Sage, piano

Date: 2021

Label: Warner

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Review

Previous releases by Les Vents Français have tended to concentrate on ensemble pieces, trios, quintets and so on, with occasional contributions by their ‘house pianist’, Éric Le Sage. Sonatas feature rarely – Beethoven’s for horn being a notable exception – so this new all-Hindemith album featuring five of his sonatas for solo woodwind instruments (those for cor anglais, horn, and alto saxophone are omitted here) with Le Sage’s accompaniment presents the group in a different, soloistic light.

Albums of solo sonatas are nothing unusual, of course, even for Hindemith’s three-dozen-plus catalogue, and there are some collections of those for winds currently listed on the Presto Classical database. However, no rival replicates the five collated here, with the rarer Sonata for Althorn (or tenor horn – not ‘alto horn’, which term is an error – 1943) replacing that for French horn (1939) in the mix. Even if there were, it would be hard to imagine five better-blown accounts of what are among the cream of Hindemith’s instrumental output. Emmanuel Pahud’s rendition of the lovely Flute Sonata (1936) is immaculate in all departments, his tone and grasp of musical flow inviting comparison with Rampal’s pioneering, much-reissued account from the 1950s; Warner Classics’ sound is, of course, immeasurably finer.

Much the same holds for the best of the individual rivals, some of which are listed below. BIS’s recordings for Alexander Ogrintchouk in the Oboe Sonata and (rather older) for Knut Sønstevold in the Bassoon Sonata (both 1938) remain strong competitors, though the former is a mixed-composer programme that will appeal to a different audience to the latter’s all-Hindemith programme with a wide variety of performers. Leleux and Audin are scarcely less beguiling here than their rivals. CPO’s disc with Ensemble Incanto focuses on Hindemith’s chamber output for clarinet, but Meyer’s new account of the lovely Clarinet Sonata (1939) here is, for my money, the market leader. There is nothing to choose between Vlatković and Le Sage in the engaging Althorn Sonata compared with Zwart’s and Melnikov’s that I reviewed in 2015. With top-notch sound, Les Vents Français, with Le Sage’s masterly accompaniments, are the pick of the crop: Vive Les Vents’ Hindemith!

— 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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Les Vents Français is an ensemble comprising of leading international wind soloists, primarily of French origin, who unite to perform as a flexible chamber group. Joined by pianist Éric Le Sage, they specialize in French repertoire, championing composers such as Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud. The ensemble performs widely across Europe and Japan at major venues and festivals, while also expanding the wind repertoire through premieres of contemporary works by composers like Thierry Escaich and Guillaume Connesson. Their acclaimed discography are released by Warner Classics, RCA and EMI.

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