Felix Delbrueck:

>Steve Schwartz's posting on Hindemith's piano sonatas caught my
>imagination.  The only thing I know of him is a recording where he rather
>stodgily conducts Brahms's Haydn Variations!

Hindemith or Klemperer?  Hindemith's recordings seem workmanlike, like many
of Stravinsky's.  However, there's little revelation in both.

>But I'm slowly getting to
>love Bach so I might well come to like Hindemith.  I might try to play
>the sonatas.  Is the Ludus Tonalis worth looking at or does it just have
>pedagogical value?

>From my viewpoint, it's an amazing piece, but I'm interested technically in
things like counterpoint.  I actually own the score and have spent some
time with it, but not at  the piano (it's beyond  me).  I know only one
recording, although several have been made, and it's an out-of-print LP.

>And what are some particularly insightful recordings
>by which to get to know his major works?

Horenstein, Karajan (EMI, Philharmonia): Mathis der Maler Symphony
Szell, Bernstein: Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Weber
Bernstein: Symphony in Eb
Reynolds: Symphony in Bb
Gould, et al.: Sonatas for Brass Instruments
Danzi Winds: Septet, Kleine Kammermusik
Chailly: 7 Kammermusiken
Phillip Jones Brass: Morgenmusik, Konzertmusik for brass and strings,
Konzertmusik for brass, harp, and piano
Shaw: When lilacs last  in the dooryard bloom'd
Bernstein,Stern: Violin Concerto
Benyamini: Viola Concerto "Der Schwanendreher"
Klemperer: Nobilissima Visione
Lehel,Perenyi: Cello Concerto
Parkman: 6 Chansons, Madrigals
Gronostay: Mass

These are all I can think of at the moment.  The cycle with Albert I
found valuable from the standpoint of filling in holes in my Hindemith
collection, but not all that satisfactory in terms of performance.

Steve Schwartz