IDAGIO | Hindemith - Complete Works for Viola Vol. 1: Viola and Orchestra 4260183515104

Featuring

Hans Graf
Tabea Zimmermann
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Paul Hindemith

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Hindemith's success as a composer in the 1920s and 1930s was partly due to his regular performances of his own works, including viola parts tailor-made for himself.

Historical Context

The year 1933 marked a turning point for Hindemith as his work was decried as "cultural Bolshevism" by the Nazis, and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels reviled him as a "Jewish 'maker of discordant noises.'"

Composition History

Hindemith composed the Trauermusik (Funeral Music) for solo viola and string orchestra within a few hours after the death of King George V, when his planned performance of Der Schwanendreher in London was cancelled.

Performer Biography

Tabea Zimmermann, a leading contemporary viola player, received her first viola lessons at age three and won first prizes at several international competitions, including the Maurice Vieux competition in Paris in 1983, where her prize was a viola made by Etienne Vatelot.

Composition History

Hindemith's viola concerto Der Schwanendreher (1935) incorporates folksong melodies whose texts deal with themes of departure, loneliness, and grief, reflecting the composer's personal feelings of being unwanted in his own country.

Recording & Production

During a 1939 recording of Trauermusik, Hindemith had to conduct the orchestra himself during sections where he wasn't playing the solo viola, due to the conductor Bruno Reibold's rigid interpretation.

Composer Biography

Paul Hindemith, originally trained as an orchestral violinist, switched to playing the viola in late summer 1919, stating, "I have thrown myself completely into the viola and play the violin only in case of urgent need."