Search - Paul Hindemith, Massimiliano Damerini :: Hindemith: Sonatas for Winds and Piano

An aural delight, and decidedly more palatable than the comp

Tom Brody | Berkeley, CA | 09/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The disc contains 73 minutes of chamber music. The booklet inside contains short essay about the pieces, but no information is given about the performers. The short essay discloses that the clarinet sonata has a "sparkling and humoristic quality." and that the flute sonata contains a theme "in the form of a jig . . . and then a short march in which discourse proceeds like a debate between the piano and flute."



We find duets with a piano and flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and horn. Some of the pieces are calm while others are jittery. In particular, I liked the sonata for oboe and piano, because of the fetching timbre of the oboe's notes.



Surprisingly, none of the pieces contain themes or quotations taken from Hindemith's masterpiece, Johnny Mathis Der Maler, or from his popular, Symphonic Metamorphosis.



Generally, the pieces are more tuneful than those on the compilation called, "Hindemith Sonatas For Brass and Piano," with Glenn Gould, Mason Jones, Abe Torchinsky, Gilbert Johnson, and Henry Smith. Thus, if you like Glenn Gould's rendition of the Sonatas for Brass and Piano (recorded in 1975), then you will love the present compilation.



The pianist on the present Hindemith compilation is Massimiliano Damerini. His bio is as follows:



Massimiliano Damerini studied piano and composition in his hometown of Genoa. He has performed in Gaveau Hall located in Paris, the Hercules in Munich, London's Barbican Centre, and the Konzerthaus in Vienna. His repertoire includes the early and late Romantic periods, with compositions by Chopin, Brahms, Franck, Fauré, and extends to contemporary music. He has taken part in the Venice Biennale, the Berlin Festwochen, the Paris Festival d'Automne, the Vienna Modern, and the Donaueschingen Festival. In 1992, he received the Premio Abbiati, which is awarded by Italian critics."