CEDILLE RECORDS 5255 N. Lakewood Ave Chicago IL 60640
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CEDILLE RECORDS 5255 N. Lakewood Ave Chicago IL 60640 USA • 773.989.2515 • www.cedillerecords.org CLARINET CHAMBER MUSIC BY HINDEMITH Easley Blackwood, piano 1–4 Cedille Records is a trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, John Bruce Yeh, clarinet Anthea Kreston, violin 5–bm a not-for-profit foundation devoted to promoting the Easley Blackwood, piano finest musicians and ensembles in the Chicago area. Amelia Piano Trio and friends Maureen Nelson, violin 5–9 The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation’s activities are supported in part by contributions and grants from individuals, foundations, corporations, and Baird Dodge, viola 5–9, bm government agencies including the Alphawood Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) Foundation, the Chicago Department of Cultural Jason Duckles, cello 5–9, bm Affairs (CityArts III Grant), and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1939) (16:23) bn bp 1 I. Mässig bewegt (4:32) Amelia Piano Trio – Producer Judith Sherman 2 II. Lebhaft (2:49) Anthea Kreston, violin 3 III. Sehr langsam (6:15) Jason Duckles, cello Engineer Bill Maylone 4 IV. Kleines Rondo, gemächlich (2:36) Jonathan Yates, piano Design Melanie Germond Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet Op. 30 (1923) (20:02) Cover: Paul Klee Alter Klang / Ancient Sound, 1925, 236 (X6) 5 I. Sehr lebhaft (2:10) 38.1 x 37.8 cm; Oeffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel 6 II. Ruhig (7:11) © 2003 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 7 III. Schneller Ländler (5:21) 8 IV. Arioso (3:05) Recorded 9 November 16, 2001 & March 3–5, 2002 V. Sehr lebhaft (2:06) at WFMT Chicago Publishers Two Duets for Violin and Clarinet from the Music Day at Plön (1932) (4:11) bk 1. Lebhaft (1:11) Sonata ©1940/1968 Schott Musik International, Mainz bl 2. Mässig bewegt (2:57) Quintet ©1955 Schott & Co. Ltd., London ©1983 B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz bm Variations for Clarinet and Strings from the Music Day at Plön (1932) (3:54) Two Duets ©1932/1960 B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz Variations ©1932 B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1938) (28:12) ©1960 Paul Hindemith bn I. Mässig bewegt (7:09) Quartet ©1939 B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz bo II. Sehr langsam (9:25) bp III. Mässig bewegt (11:30) CDR 90000 072 P&© 2003 Cedille Records, a trademark of Total Time: (73:11) The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation All Rights Reserved 2 3 Clarinet Chamber Music by Hindemith Schoenberg, predicted in his Theory of that seems more apt (the elemental tione musica asserted that “Music is a notes by Stephen Heinemann Harmony, “As for laws [of tonality] estab- tones perhaps being analogous to pri- part of our human nature; it has the lished by custom, however — they will mary colors). Yet, while Hindemith admit- power either to improve or to debase our Benjamin Disraeli once observed, “A man eventually be disestablished.” Hindemith, ted that a painter was free to obliterate character” — both admonishments that who is not a liberal at sixteen has no the antidisestablishmentarian, held that perspective, he denied that a composer Hindemith cherished deeply. He may not heart; a man who is not a conservative at mere custom could not account for the could avoid tonality, likening that to the have been overtly religious in the manner sixty has no head.” By this reckoning, vast riches of tonality; unlike his contem- attempt to escape gravity — a simile that of J.S. Bach, but he was certainly a spiri- Paul Hindemith reached sixty at the age poraries, he believed that its possibilities was probably a good deal more com- tual person whose beliefs thoroughly of twenty-eight. His first mature works had not been exhausted. His solutions for pelling when it was made in 1952 than it informed his art, his craft, and his work had established him among the radical extending musical syntax will sound, to is today. Many of his “scientific” observa- ethic. He therefore worried about the composers of the early modernist era, the casual listener, more evocative of tions have not borne up well to close effects of technology (“radio, Muzaks, but an abrupt about-face in 1923 set him Schoenberg than of Brahms, but the cru- scrutiny, yet they still constitute an emi- and other relentlessly running music- on a course of conservatism that, save for cial elements of historical practice — key nently thoughtful basis for the effects of faucets — a nonstop flow of faceless flirtations with electronic instruments in centers, elaborate imitative counterpoint, his art, which, like the music of virtually sound”) on people’s ability to listen atten- the late 1920s and with Anton traditional forms, instrumental combina- all composers, have proved stubbornly tively, blaming not so much those listen- Webern–influenced serialism thirty years tions — remain primary, albeit modified to recalcitrant to systematic scientific inves- ers as the “artists, managers, and agents later, would inform the rest of his prolific accomplish the particular intentions of tigation and explanation. catering maliciously to an ever-ready ten- and distinguished career as composer, individual pieces. dency towards the least resistance [with] theorist, and pedagogue. Hindemith did not view himself as a reac- the one goal, entertainment.” In the first volume of his theoretical trea- tionary but as a pilot attempting to right a To Hindemith, the major triad was a fact tise The Craft of Musical Composition, foundering ship. His aim was to write Bach is the composer with whom of nature, clearly the harmonic manifesta- Hindemith asserted: “Music, as long as it highly evolved tonal music that, for him, Hindemith, with his thirst for craftsman- tion of the overtone series, the physical exists, will always take its departure from was intrinsically more advanced than ship and counterpoint, may be most prof- acoustic property of the musical tone. (He the major triad and return to it. The musi- atonal music at any point on an evolution- itably compared. The composer and critic had greater difficulty explaining the minor cian cannot escape it any more than the ary scale. His aesthetic was derived from Virgil Thomson perceived a connection to triad, finally regarding it as a “clouding” of painter his primary colors, or the architect writings of the ancients St. Augustine and a more recent forebear, writing that the major.) By extension, tonality — the his three dimensions. In composition, the Boethius, who predated tonal practice by Hindemith “is a neoclassicist like Brahms, system of major and minor keys that had triad . can never be avoided for more a millennium but in whose words with ears glued firmly to the past.” Like governed musical creation for three cen- than a short time without completely con- Hindemith found particular resonance. Bach and Brahms, Hindemith believed turies — must likewise be a fact of fusing the listener.” Elsewhere, he com- Augustine’s De musica held that musical that anyone can have musical ideas, but it nature. The composer most responsible pared tonality with perspective in paint- knowledge unified the human soul with is composers, whether they are first-rate for upending tonal practice, Arnold ing, a parallel of systematic techniques the divine, while Boethius’s De institu- or sixth-rate, who learn how to preserve 4 5 and develop these ideas. What separates profound admiration. (This was a senti- composition what a precious crystal gob- deserves.” It is nevertheless a staple of the genius from rest, he claimed, is ment that Schenker did not return, how- let is for an exquisite wine: the wine’s the clarinetist’s repertoire, frequently vision, which he compared to the detailed ever; he disliked Hindemith’s composi- quality remains unchanged, but its color undertaken at the college level as an early sight of a landscape illuminated for a sec- tions intensely and referred to Brahms as and bouquet unfold in all their splendor.” example of music by a master composer. ond by brilliant lightning: “We experience “the last great master of German music.”) Like its distinguished forerunners, the a view, immensely comprehensive and at Brahms clarinet sonatas, it lies fluidly the same time immensely detailed. Hindemith contended that, regardless of Sonata for Clarinet and Piano under the fingers; rewards the player Compositions must be conceived in the its abstract nature, music remained a who meets its particular challenges of same way. If we cannot, in the flash of a form of communication between the Through much of his career, but particu- rhythm, phrasing, and ensemble (the per- single moment, see a composition in its composer and listener. He disdained eso- larly between 1935 and 1943, a favorite formers are equal partners rather than entirety, with every pertinent detail in its teric composition but denied having sacri- project of Hindemith’s was the compos- soloist and accompanist); and is so sub- proper place, we are not genuine cre- ficed his artistic sensibilities for the sake ing of sonatas for various instruments — stantial that performers can return to it ators.” This is very close to the clichéd of a mass audience. “It is one thing to some solo, some with piano accompani- again and again, confident that it will con- view of inspiration, the “necessary angel” write down to the bad instincts of the ment, all of lasting quality. 1939 was his tinue to provide previously unrecognized that Igor Stravinsky, certainly a genuine unrefined listener, and another to satisfy most productive year in this respect, see- levels of musical satisfaction. creator, sought to dispel as “in no way a . the just demands of a cultured cus- ing the completion of no fewer than six prescribed condition of the creative act, tomer,” he wrote.