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Hindemith: - Viola Concerto ' Der Schwanendreher ', Cello Concerto

Product Image: Hindemith: - Viola Concerto ' Der Schwanendreher ', Cello Concerto

Hindemith: - Viola Concerto ' Der Schwanendreher ', Cello Concerto

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Two of Hindemith's most lyrically approachable pieces: an attractive coupling. Don't let the relative unfamiliarity of the performers' names fool you into imagining that these are in any sense second best to the performances available for comparison. In a number of respects, indeed, the advantages are the other way round. In the finale of Der Schwanendreher, for example, Barsony's slightly but agreeable reedy tone avoids the hint of sentimentality brought to it by Daniel Benyamini's (DG) richer sound and more impassioned manner; Bársony is also more naturally balanced with the chamber orchestra, where Benyamini is placed well to the fore (even when his pizzicato has an accompanying role) of a group that sounds a bit too large. In the Cello Concerto Perényi also is better balanced than Tibor de Machula (Etcetera/Harmonia Mundi), but here it is Perényi who has the bigger tone; de Machula's elegance and incisiveness suit some pages of the work (the tender opening of the slow movement, say) very well indeed, but on others his technique is a bit stretched by the music's demands. Perenyi surmounts them with with enjoyment and a touch of flamboyance, giving a big performance of what sounds a bigger work in consequence.It is good, too, not only to hear the characteristic sounds of East European instruments but to hear them used with such lively imagination. The expressively Slavonic trombone in the first movement of Der Schwanendreher and the clarinet's hint of rusticity in the slow movement's perky central fugue nicely point up the folk-tunes that Hindemith was using. Orchestral textures in both works are neatly clear, without unnatural closeness, and with a pleasant sense of space around the performers.
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Hungaroton White Label
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