Search - Paul Hindemith :: Hindemith: Sonatas for Solo Viola

Ethereal

Mr JB | Karlskrona Sweden | 10/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great winner caught in beautifully recorded sound, as always with BIS. In these sonatas, the most famous probably the first on this record, op. 11/5, Hindemith shows himself at his most contemplating and yet very intense also in the slower parts. He captures the darker and more anxious, melancholy sound image of the viola, compared to its sister the violin, in a great way. The music is never simple or just striving for beauty and virtuosity - there's much more to them - and that is why I find them much more interesting than many violin sonatas. They surely also benefit from the fact that Hindemith himself was a great viola player, and thus knew the instrument very well.For me, these sonatas are ethereal - they're just the kind of music I want if I take a relaxing and contemplating bath on my own (although there are more romantic alternatives if you are two in the bath). They're like brooding poems, showing some magical moments of peace and lightness. The most appropriate comparision I can come up with is Ravel's, Debussy's and some of Dvorak's more serious and melodic chamber music for strings (quartets). Although being modern in their style, they never appear as 'constructed' or planned (as sometimes Ravel and Debussy) - they simply exist, they feel perfectly natural. And this is the case to such a level that you sometimes forget that there's someone playing it - which of cause is a great evidence of the professionalism and quality in Ms Imai's playing. She makes a perfectly natural and fluent interpretation, rich in sound and emotion, gentle or abrupt when so called for. Compared to others? Well, Kashkashian is a bit raw in tone and misses some of the natural sense concerning the playing, and Cortese is, I think, beautiful, but a little pale in colouring. This would be a perfect first choice, a must for anyone concerned in beautiful (modern) string-music."