Tabea Zimmermann
Hindemith: Complete Viola Works Vol. 1 Viola & Orchestra
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Hans Graf
Myrios Classics MYR010 (2013)
Hindemith composed his works for viola and orchestra for his own needs, in order to expand the repertoire, which was less extensive than that of other solo instruments. His first viola concerto, Kammermusik No. 5 Op. 36 No. 4, was written in 1927 and adopts baroque movement characteristics, especially in the first movement, including toccata-like motor rhythms and melodic formations orientated on linear connections. The almost constant presence of the solo instrument requires maximum endurance on the part of the soloist, without whom the piece would hardly make its effect. To anticipate: Tabea Zimmermann's interpretational approach is new and the result is simply brilliant. She does not just fiddle around motorically and monotonously, or make a show of virtuosity, but shapes the nuances with great imagination and the utmost technical sovereignty.
Hindemith composed his concerto Der Schwanendreher in 1935 at a time when he was the victim of National Socialist denunciations and defamations by the Nazi press. The composer/soloist, presenting himself as a minstrel without a homeland, unfolds his tunes based on old German folksongs before an imaginary, festive community. In contrast to the works of his earlier sturm-und-drang years, Hindemith develops the sound in a subtle fashion here, conjuring forth soft, almost intimate timbres. It is precisely this inward-looking quality that Tabea Zimmermann brings out in congenial interaction with the orchestra in a way unheard before, by tracing the melodic contours with the sonorous and richly nuanced sound of the viola. Zimmermann presents the folksongs extensively used by Hindemith in a large arc, so that the contents associated by the song texts are conveyed organically, as a unity. This is indeed a minstrel who reflects upon his fate!
The Konzertmusik Op. 48 (1930) in its early version is a premiere recording. Especially in the fourth movement, discarded in the later version, the artists conjure up an atmosphere of chamber music marked by the dialogue of individual instruments with the viola. In these passages, the interpreters succeed in communicating the inner quality of this music. It is wonderfully reserved and yet played in a highly expressive manner! Tabea Zimmermann and the DSO take on the faster movements with a playfully concertante approach, bringing out the contrasts between lyrically reflective and virtuosic, playful sections.
Equally intensive is the interpretation of the Funeral Music in memory of King George V by Tabea Zimmermann and Hans Graf. In this work, Hindemith has recourse to the tone of the Burial from the Mathis Symphony, allowing the solo instrument to play chamber music with the solo strings and also to appear as soloist contrasting with the full ensemble. The free solo arabesques of the chorale melody Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit make a placid, transfiguring impression.
Through her chamber-music approach to performing these works, Tabea Zimmermann succeeds in subtly exploring the dimensions of depth in these compositions of Hindemith.
Heinz-Jürgen Winkler