There’s Hindemith on a good day. Then there’s the Hindemith of the Octet for Winds and Strings.
At 27 minutes, Hindemith’s Octet is something of an endurance test for performers, and perhaps even more so for listeners. The piece is ugly, grey, cranky, and noodly – gebrauchsmusik at its worst. And I say this as a Hindemith fan. There are times when Hindemith’s music can be glorious, thrilling, or transcendent, even. And then there are those when he just makes you feel like you’ve been reading a newspaper in the back seat on a too-long car trip.
This is not a piece I would attempt to share under the glare of a sunny summer’s day. But there are thunderstorms in the forecast, so let the good times roll.
Eight talented musicians make of it what they can, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.” We’ll hear as fine a performance of the piece as you’re ever likely to encounter, from the 1983 Marlboro Music Festival.
Then, by way of apology, I’ll do the best that I can to repair our friendship with Beethoven’s wholly delightful Serenade in D major, Op. 25. Beethoven’s Serenade is a late entry in the 18th century divertimento craze. Its date of composition is uncertain, but recent scholarship places it around the time Beethoven wrote his popular Septet. We’ll hear a performance from Marlboro in 1980, with flutist Christine Nield, violinist Young Uck Kim, and violist Michael Tree (of the legendary Guarneri Quartet).
Hindemith may have had Beethoven and Schubert in mind when he embarked on his Octet. But beyond that, I have no idea what he was thinking. Form is no substitute for content, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page
HINDEMITH: Whatever pops into my head is gold
