Hindemith’s Violin Sonatas fascinatingly mirror the various stages in the development of his musical language, from the vocabulary of late Romanticism to the monumental, contrapuntal and revivified Baroque idiom of his maturity. They are performed here by virtuoso German violinist Tanja Becker-Bender who has made a speciality of the music of the early twentieth century.

This album, and its companion of the Piano Sonatas, commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Hindemith’s death.

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Violin Sonata in E flat major op.11 no.1 - Frisch
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Violin Sonata in E flat major op.11 no.1 - Im Zeitmass...
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Violin Sonata in D major op.11 no.2 - Lebhaft
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Violin Sonata in D major op.11 no.2 - Ruhig und gemessen
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Violin Sonata in D major op.11 no.2 - Im Zeitmass...
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Violin Sonata in E major - Ruhig bewegt
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Violin Sonata in E major - Langsam
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Violin Sonata in C major - Lebhaft
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Violin Sonata in C major - Langsam
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Violin Sonata in C major - Fuge: Ruhig bewegt
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Meditation from Nobilissima visione

Europadisc Review

The Hyperion label is marking the fiftieth anniversary of Paul Hindemith’s death in style. As well as a new recording of Mathis der Maler Symphony and the Symphonic Metamorphoses with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins (for release in December), November sees new accounts of the Piano Sonatas from Marcus Becker, and this fine disc of the accompanied Violin Sonatas from Tanja Becker-Bender and Péter Nagy.

As well as composing, Hindemith was a highly versatile instrumentalist, best remembered today as an accomplished viola player, having taken up the instrument in earnest by the end of World War I. But his first instrument was in fact the violin, and his thorough absorption of string technique is clearly evident in these engaging works. The E flat Sonata, Op.11 no.1, is the first of six stringed instrument sonatas begun while Hindemith was still serving on the Western front in 1918. Its two contrasting movements, the first lively, the second more solemn and grave, already show signs of that spiky individuality that marks much of his later music, as well as episodes of gentle lyricism. It was premiered by Hindemith himself in Frankfurt in June 1919, accompanied by Emma Lübbecke-Job. The more substantial D major Sonata, Op.11 no.2, was premiered the following year by Max Strub, and is redolent of the late romantic tradition as refracted through the music of Reger and Debussy.

The Sonatas in E major (1935) and C major (1939) postdate Hindemith’s dalliance with neoclassicism and find him returning to a more expressive vein, full of warmth, dynamism and reflection, as well as a clarity and balance which often belie (or defy) the troubled times in which they were composed. The Meditation from Hindemith’s 1937 ballet about St Francis of Assisi, Nobilissima visione, provides an affecting filler.

Tanja Becker-Bender has made a speciality of music from the early twentieth century, and she has the full measure of these surprisingly powerful works. The sound she coaxes from her Guarneri instrument has a dynamism and crystalline clarity ideally suited to the faster movements, and a warmth and depth of expression in the slower, more reflective sections, that combine to make her a most persuasive advocate for this music. The balance between her and Péter Nagy’s ever alert piano is well-nigh ideal, helped by a sympathetic and finely focused recording in Berlin’s Jesus-Christus-Kirche.

With detailed notes from Malcolm MacDonald, and the attractive presentation that is a Hyperion hallmark, this is a thoroughly recommendable release!