Paul Hindemith, one of the most productive composers of the twentieth century, had a particular affinity for his second instrument: the viola. While he wrote sonatas for virtually every orchestral instrument and beyond, his much beloved viola received more such solo compositions than any other instrument. Written across much of his career, the solo works for viola offer a glimpse into the changing personalities and techniques that occurred throughout Hindemith's output. This Hyperion album, featuring violist Lawrence Power ...
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Paul Hindemith, one of the most productive composers of the twentieth century, had a particular affinity for his second instrument: the viola. While he wrote sonatas for virtually every orchestral instrument and beyond, his much beloved viola received more such solo compositions than any other instrument. Written across much of his career, the solo works for viola offer a glimpse into the changing personalities and techniques that occurred throughout Hindemith's output. This Hyperion album, featuring violist Lawrence Power and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips, offers listeners selections composed between 1919 and 1938. Although the viola gets top billing in these works, Hindemith was a profoundly gifted pianist and the importance (and immense difficulty) of the piano part in his sonatas cannot be underestimated. Power and Crawford-Phillips strike a pleasing balance, always making it clear which line is meant to be predominant at any given moment. Even though the piano scores can often be quite dense and...
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