In 1946 Hindemith, who became an American citizen in January of that year, composed the Requiem for Robert Shaw's Collegiate Chorale. Whitman's poem had been written on the death of Lincoln. Some parallel events at Roosevelt's death and the excellent interpretation presented Hindemith's work a great success. The recent identification of the Jewish melody Gaza, which appears in large parts of the work, reveals a further meaning: It must be seen as Hindemith's musical reaction to the Holocaust, a reaction, whose effect is all the more penetrating and persuasive, because Hindemith himself never revealed the identity of the Gaza melody for the purposes of cheap publicity. Hindemith wrote a Requiem for the living (the survivors), who are obligated to remember and identify themselves with the victims and must transform this historical moment into an imperishable personal experience.

Paul Hindemith was motivated to work with Gottfried Benn after he had read his article "Can Writers Change the World?". In it Benn states, in opposition to the political program of salvation of his days: History has no overarching sense, no upward movement, no dawning of humanity, a motif of the Orient, a myth of the Mediterranean Sea; it survives the Niagara Falls, only to drown in the bathtub; necessity calls and randomness answers. Benn then gave form to these views in his poem "Das Unaufh�rliche", which is supposed to express the self-transformation of the creative act. Hindemith was confronted with the paradoxical problem that he could in no way express the principle of the perpetual, to which as an art form music, too, is subject, by means of an emphatically autonomous music. Instead, he sought to embody the principle of the perpetual in his basic compositional decisions. Hindemith succeeds by always giving something fictive to the "organic" closed forms of the "natural" musical flow. The principle of the perpetual is assigned to three themes, which almost all of the work's other themes are derived from in the most subtle, unobtrusive art of transformation. And when the final chorus returns to these three themes in their original form, it makes thematically manifest what was always latently present: the principle of the perpetual.

The CD presents partly unpublished choral works of Paul Hindemith who wrote in 1952: "It is not going too far to say that the art of a cappella ensemble singing and the music written for it can be thought of as the measure of the achievement of the musical culture of any particular period." The brief texts of the canons reveal his love of punning games and an underlying sense of humor.

Hindemith's "Ludus tonalis" which is presented on this CD was composed in the American exile. It is not only the composer's last work for piano solo, but also one of the most important works of piano compositions of the 20th century. To show what music and composition are: This is what Hindmith tried to undertake in his "Ludus tonalis". The basis for harmonic practice and tonal structure presented in "The Craft of Musical Composition" finds direct application in the final concept of the "Ludus tonalis". Heinrich Strobel, musicologist and Hindemith's first biographer called "Ludus tonalis" the "Well-Tempered Piano" of the 20th century. Composer Fritz von Borries said: "What has here become music is not a mathematical problem or experiment, but a deep spiritual triumph, in which ultimate reason and ultimate being are revealed. How can the meaning of Praeludium and Postludium be more clearly represented than by letting that which began in the beginning appear in the end and run it's course in reverse direction and vertically inverted? And what wonderful music it is both times."

In Paul Hindemith's collected works the compositions for violoncello and piano occupy a significant position. They range from solo sonata to concerto with large orchestra. The large number of compositions for cello is perhaps surprising when one recalls that Hindemith first attracted public attention as a violist and that many of his works were written especially for his own concert performances. However Hindemith was always surrounded by cellists - in his private life as well as in the circle of friendly colleagues - who performed his works. Julius Berger: Violoncello / Siegfried Mauser: piano.

HINDEMITH: Piano Works, Vol. 4

HINDEMITH: Piano Works, Vol. 2

Classical Music

Classical Music

The recording of Paul Hindemith's string quartets by the world-famous Juilliard String Quartet - with founder-member Robert Mann (who left the ensemble after the 1996/97 season) as first violinist - has been completed. The third CD is now available. The CD contains a real "jewel": Hindemith's first quartet op. 2 which remained totally unknown unless it was published in 1994; whereas his fourth quartet op. 22 - performed 127 times just by Hindemith's ensemble in the 1920s, the Amar Quartet - is by far the most popular piece in it's repertoire! German Record Critics' Award for the complete recording of Hindemith's string quartets by the Juilliard String Quartet! The CD was awarded the Quarterly German Record Critics' Award!

Classical Music

Classical Music

This enterprising disc contains all of Hindemith's chamber music featuring solo cello either alone or in combination with piano. The pieces cover a wide stylistic range, from the spiky, dissonant neo-classicism of the early sonata Op. 11 No. 3, to the warmer, almost Romantic work written in 1948. The humorous variations for cello and piano on the English nursery tune "A frog he went a-courting" ought to become an encore staple of chamber recitals. A string player himself, Hindemith clearly knew how to show off the cello to best effect. Even the comparatively difficult works have a fluency and musical logic that proves compelling at first listen, and none of them overstay their welcome. A lot of the credit for this music's favorable impression belongs with the cellist, Wendy Warner. Her accurate intonation and warm, singing tone prove a constant source of delight, and she's ably partnered by pianist Eileen Buck. These two superb players demonstrate conclusively that the success of so much of Hindemith's music really depends on sympathetic performance. Bridge's sonics flatter the music and the players. An excellent disc in every respect. [11/30/1999] --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

HINDEMITH: Mathis der Maler / Symphonic Metamorphosis