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Pittsburgh Symphony

Paul Hindemith Music 1958 — Hindemith's last symphony is also his gnarliest. It seems to fit with the temper of the times more than his previous outings, and, on first listening, barely sounds Hindemithian at all! But it doesn't take many repeated hearings and you get the point. This is Hindemith after all. In three movements, the first is almost off-putting. It grows on you, though; or did me. The final movement concludes as if in homage to Ives's Second Symphony, with a treatment of a popular song, Pittsburgh is a Great Old Town, sounding exactly like the spiritual This Train, to me. But though this sort of comes out of left field, Hindemith had done this before. Check out the last movement of the Piano Concerto. Commissioned by the conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra of the time, Hindemith intended the symphony to celebrate the spirit of an industrial city, and its surrounding Pennsylvania Dutch communities. In the second movement a Pennsylvania Ductch tune is employed to great effect.
Wirkman Netizen: Symphonies
25 Mar 07 22:57 Match

Symphonia Serena

Paul Hindemith Music 1947 — Cheerful? Serene? How about sane? Playful-but-serious? Confident? I like it that Hindemith never numbered his symphonies. He named them. This is a comparatively obscure work, having received fewer performances than his two more famous opera symphonies (Mathis Der Maler and Harmonie Der Welt), and probably fewer performances than his two symphonies designated by key. But it's this work that I now admire most. It deserves study as well as repeated listenings. It is readily apparent that Hindemith was at top of his form, here. He is ingenious. What amazing development, what great textures, what surprising orchestral colors! The first movement is for full orchestra. The second, a metamorphosis on a theme by Beethoven, is for winds alone. The third, for strings, divided into two groups and contrasted with soloists. The fourth movement brings the whole orchestra back together, and revives a theme from the first movement. This is a joyous work, deserving not only to be c
Wirkman Netizen: Symphonies
25 Mar 07 22:41 Match

Symphony Mathis der Maler

Paul Hindemith Music 1934 — Usually considered to be Hindemith's greatest orchestral work, this symphony is the emotional peak of the composer's symphonic output. The music is taken from his opera about the painter Matthias Grünewald. The opera has never quite caught on, but the symphony sure has. It is the best example of Hindemith's mature style, and an early one at that.
Wirkman Netizen: Symphonies
25 Mar 07 22:29 Match

When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom'd

Paul Hindemith Music Shaw/Atlanta
ANABlog
23 Nov 05 04:23 Match