Critical assessment of Karl Amadeus Hartmann once had him hovering near the fringes of the highest ranking of German composers of the generation of Hindemith and Orff, but his music never quite caught on in the public's imagination. This collection of three of his orchestral works, conducted by Rafael Kubelik, one of his most ardent advocates, demonstrates the strengths and limitations of his work. Hartmann was a highly skilled craftsman in the sense that Hindemith was, and his music, like some of Hindemith's, can seem ...
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Critical assessment of Karl Amadeus Hartmann once had him hovering near the fringes of the highest ranking of German composers of the generation of Hindemith and Orff, but his music never quite caught on in the public's imagination. This collection of three of his orchestral works, conducted by Rafael Kubelik, one of his most ardent advocates, demonstrates the strengths and limitations of his work. Hartmann was a highly skilled craftsman in the sense that Hindemith was, and his music, like some of Hindemith's, can seem driven more by craft than by inspiration. Hartmann consciously wrestled with the balance between what he perceived as the antithetical principles of the discipline required of polyphony and the freedom of expressivity. In his most effective works, including Symphonische Hymnen recorded here, he achieves his goal of writing deeply expressive music that is constructed with formal and contrapuntal rigor. In each of its movements, he generates a pulse-quickening, propulsive energy that's...
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