Overview
“Hindemith: Violin Sonatas & Concerto” is an album that contains five compositions for violin, composed in 1918–1939, by Paul Hindemith, a German composer of the 20th century.
Commentary
Performed by Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Enrico Pace (piano), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Paavo Järvi (conductor). It was recorded in 2009 and 2012, and was released in 2013 by BIS Records.
The album contains “Violin Sonata in E-flat” (Op. 11-1, 1918), “Sonata for Solo Violin” (Op. 31-2, 1924), “Sonata in E for Violin and Piano” (1935), “Sonata in C for Violin and Piano” (1939), and “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra” (1939).
Though each composition has dissonance and tonal ambiguity, they have contrapuntal and clear stability based on neoclassicism or neo-baroque idioms, and they are lyrical and melodic.
“Violin Concerto” is a composition commissioned by conductor Willem Mengelberg, and is regarded as one of Hindemith’s greatest violin works.
