Paul Hindemith composed only one official Piano Concerto, in the strict, Classical sense of a three-movement work for piano and orchestra, though he composed four other concertante pieces with the piano as the solo instrument, and they are all classed as piano concertos on this double-disc package from Naxos. While the Piano Music for piano left hand and orchestra and the Theme and Variations for piano and string orchestra are not exceptional in their instrumentation, Hindemith's fertile imagination yielded many works with ...
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Paul Hindemith composed only one official Piano Concerto, in the strict, Classical sense of a three-movement work for piano and orchestra, though he composed four other concertante pieces with the piano as the solo instrument, and they are all classed as piano concertos on this double-disc package from Naxos. While the Piano Music for piano left hand and orchestra and the Theme and Variations for piano and string orchestra are not exceptional in their instrumentation, Hindemith's fertile imagination yielded many works with unconventional combinations, such as the Concert Music for piano, brass, and 2 harps, and the Chamber Music No. 2 for piano and 12 instruments, which show his avid interest in playing diverse tone colors off each other. At the center of these performances is Idil Biret, the prolific virtuoso who has established herself as one of the most important artists to record for Naxos, with numerous recordings to her credit. She plays Hindemith's music with a crisp tone and a dry,...
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