Hindemith's Harmonie

[krummholz]

I absolutely agree! Hindemith has been on an upward trajectory for me for a number of years, and I find him so consistently impressive that I was rather surprised when I recently listened to The Four Temperaments for the first time and struggled to get into it, a quite new experience!
Anyway will revisit at some point, and there's still plenty I haven't heard, and I always look forward to diving into new pieces by him.

Agreed! A few months ago I heard his Symphonic Metamorphoses on the radio and struggled to identify the composer, wondering who wrote this amazing work. I am just not that familiar with Hindemith, but what I've heard, I find fascinating.

[Roasted Swan]

Agreed! A few months ago I heard his Symphonic Metamorphoses on the radio and struggled to identify the composer, wondering who wrote this amazing work. I am just not that familiar with Hindemith, but what I've heard, I find fascinating.

Happy hunting - there is a lot of tremendous Hindemith and not at all the academic/dry music that popular wisdom might suggest......

[DaveF]

It's no accident that I have the great man as my avatar (although someone wearing traditional dress, holding a bassoon and looking slightly embarrassed about it is always going to get a laugh).  Like you, @Iota, I find every new work I encounter to be immensely impressive, to the extent that I am now trying to appreciate the really tough nuts, such as the piano and organ concertos.  I think I've reached a point where I trust him to get everything right, and can happily blame myself if I can't appreciate what he's up to.

Particular favourites, apart from the obvious (Symphonic Metamorphosis, Mathis der Maler symphony) include the solo viola pieces, the Octet (staggeringly good piece), the Concerto for Orchestra (ditto), the Mass, the Op.49 Konzertmusik (which I prefer to the better-known Op.50), the delightful Concerto for 4 woodwinds and harp, the Trumpet sonata...  I mean to line up next When Lilacs Last... of which I know no more than the orchestral prelude.

[Karl Henning]

I mean to line up next When Lilacs Last... of which I know no more than the orchestral prelude.

High time I revisited that one!

[DaveF]

High time I revisited that one!

I gave it a spin late last night, which may have been a bad idea, since it then kept me awake all night.  I'm used to being knocked sideways by Hindemith's brilliance and mastery, but to be so shattered by his emotional content is something new.  (Whitman helps, of course.)  The flute solo in the finale put me in mind of Bach - there's a clear debt there, but in my enthusiasm it seemed no way inferior to something from one of the Passions.

[Iota]

It's no accident that I have the great man as my avatar (although someone wearing traditional dress, holding a bassoon and looking slightly embarrassed about it is always going to get a laugh).  Like you, @Iota, I find every new work I encounter to be immensely impressive, to the extent that I am now trying to appreciate the really tough nuts, such as the piano and organ concertos.  I think I've reached a point where I trust him to get everything right, and can happily blame myself if I can't appreciate what he's up to.

Particular favourites, apart from the obvious (Symphonic Metamorphosis, Mathis der Maler symphony) include the solo viola pieces, the Octet (staggeringly good piece), the Concerto for Orchestra (ditto), the Mass, the Op.49 Konzertmusik (which I prefer to the better-known Op.50), the delightful Concerto for 4 woodwinds and harp, the Trumpet sonata...  I mean to line up next When Lilacs Last... of which I know no more than the orchestral prelude.

That's an interesting list of favourites (most of which are unfamiliar), which I shall bear in mind on my Hindemith wanderings. Mathis der Maler is what first got me interested in him. I'd spent about the first twenty years of my listening life under the entirely misguided impression that he was dry and uninteresting based solely on having sight-read the accompaniment for the flute sonata for a friend when we were about fifteen and being deeply unimpressed. So stupid, my sight-reading was no doubt dreadful, I gave it no further chances and was in no position to make such a sweeping assumption, nevertheless poor Hindemith got filed away in my mind under 'not worth bothering with', and I kind of forgot about him until my thirties. Even then it was a slow cautious start but he has really come into his own in the last decade or so for me I'm very happy to say. I love that flute sonata now ..   

[Karl Henning]

@DaveF The Opus 50 was an early favorite and I do still love it. For years I was curious about the Opus 49, and when I finally listened to it, the heavens opened. 

[San Antone]

Because he was so prolific and talked about "Gebrauchsmusik (Music for Use)" I think Hindemith is underrated.  But I consider him a master craftsman and composer of rare talent.  I am a great fan of the instrumental sonatas, and admire his dedication to producing them for most instrument groups, providing musicians with a wealth of repertory for instruments which often are neglected.

I also remember buying and treasuring his two volumes on the Craft of Musical Composition, as well as books on theory and harmony, when in music school.  Besides being an excellent composer, Hindemith was a very good teacher and pedagogue, in the best sense of that word.

Stephen Sondheim often said that if he had not worked in musical theater he would loved to have been a teacher.  He considered it a sacred profession. And in fact Sondheim conducted master classes often and in interviews he would sometimes take on a professorial tone offering valuable advice and inspiration to young composers and lyricists.

I can't help but feel that I too have neglected Hindemith, claiming to think so highly of him, as I do, and yet he doesn't get included in my top ten or even twenty composers.

I think I should revisit those lists and see if I might work him in.

[Brian]

I recently had a chance to talk to the composer Samuel Adler about his life and memoir, which includes a section on studying with Hindemith. He said he was a very good teacher but also very tough, with an expectation of excellence, and that he could - for even a classroom demonstration - quickly compose a miniature with impeccable internal logic.

[Karl Henning]

I recently had a chance to talk to the composer Samuel Adler about his life and memoir, which includes a section on studying with Hindemith. He said he was a very good teacher but also very tough, with an expectation of excellence, and that he could - for even a classroom demonstration - quickly compose a miniature with impeccable internal logic.

Severely jealous of your opportunity! I met him twice in his office at the Eastman School.

[Brian]

Severely jealous of your opportunity! I met him twice in his office at the Eastman School.

He probably remembers you! His recall is astonishing.

[Cato]

Agreed! A few months ago I heard his Symphonic Metamorphoses on the radio and struggled to identify the composer, wondering who wrote this amazing work. I am just not that familiar with Hindemith, but what I've heard, I find fascinating.

Let me recommend an opera from the 1920's: Cardillac, with the main character sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

It is a performance which will punch you again and again with its relentless brilliance!      

[Mandryka]

The 1923 Marienleben is the most contrapuntal set of songs that I have ever heard. So contrapuntal that I think even @prémont will like it. The parts for the piano really are independent of the voice, and yet complement the voice beautifully. Hindemith thought it was his greatest work and I'm inclined to think he was right.

I know of only three recordings - Banse, Kellock and Roslak. Kellock has the warmest voice and for that reason is a favourite of mine.

There are tons of recordings of the revised version of 1948 - I'm told that it's easier to sing. It is less contrapuntal, less spiky.

[ritter]

The 1923 Marienleben is the most contrapuntal set of songs that I have ever heard. So contrapuntal that I think even @prémont will like it. The parts for the piano really are independent of the voice, and yet complement the voice beautifully. Hindemith thought it was his greatest work and I'm inclined to think he was right.

I know of only three recordings - Banse, Kellock and Roslak. Kellock has the warmest voice and for that reason is a favourite of mine.

There are tons of recordings of the revised version of 1948 - I'm told that it's easier to sing. It is less contrapuntal, less spiky.

Nice. I should get another recording of Das Marienleben, because I still recall, with terror, have dislike Roxolana Roslak's singing on Sony (with Glenn Gould).