Paul Hindemith
Complete Viola Works
Vol. 2: Sonatas for Viola & Piano and Solo Viola
Tabea Zimmermann (Viola)
Thomas Hoppe (Piano)
With this recording of all the sonatas for solo viola (Op. 11 No. 5, Op. 25 No. 1, Op. 31 No. 4, and 1937) and for viola and piano (Op. 11 No. 4, Op. 25 No. 4 and 1939), Tabea Zimmermann has completed her recordings of all the viola works of Hindemith. They are of the highest standard, thereby earning the status of reference recordings which can hardly be surpassed in their quality. It was to be expected that they would be utterly flawless in their playing technique, after the grandiose recording of the complete viola works with orchestra. But these recordings are equally convincing for their musicality, all the more impressive considering that these sonatas were composed during completely different creative periods in Hindemith's life. In their stylistic habitus, they range from impressionism and new objectivity to a completely individual type of classicist style; in their expressive presentation, from sonorous yet reserved melancholy to breakneck ferocity.
One can gain an initial impression of Tabea Zimmermann's interpretative art by comparing it to conventional interpretations of these works. For example, she understands the instruction "Ruhig" (Calm) of the first movement of the Duo Sonata, Op. 11 No. 4, as an expressive instruction, playing it, exquisitely assisted by Thomas Hoppe, with a relaxed yet sonorous tone that brings about a corresponding tempo in which this tone is also able to develop fully and completely. As for the direction "mit bizarrer Plumpheit vorzutragen" (to be performed with bizarre ungainliness) with which Hindemith precedes the sixth fugato variation in the final movement of this sonata - she articulates this not so much by means of rhythmic faltering, as one might expect, but rather through a differentiated display of the chromaticism in bars 146 to 151. This passage makes an intentionally "clumsy" effect which is unexpected and compositionally outlandish. On the other hand, Zimmermann assigns freely improvisatory traits to the first movement of the Solo Sonata, Op. 11 No. 5, as if this movement were unable to find a compelling continuation. To a certain extent, this impression is complementarily counterbalanced by the final movement's well-regulated, more or less "architectonic" passacaglia form developed from the same theme as the opening movement.
In the first movement of the Solo Sonata, Op. 31 No 4, Hindemith alludes to the Prelude from Bach's E-major Partita for solo violin. Here, Zimmermann differentiates the rhythmically unified order of events of the first movement of the Solo Sonata, Op. 31 No. 4 in a dynamic, articulatory fashion. On the one hand, she does this by means of "illusionary rhythmics", a term coined by Ligeti describing a situation in which contractions of successions of accents create the impression that the music is accelerating. On the other hand, this is achieved through incredibly subtle dynamics, as if the music were continually vanishing after bar 25 and bar 78 and then drawing closer again. All this leads to absolutely new experiences in listening. In the middle section of the finale of the Duo Sonata, Op. 25 No. 4 – the outer movements of this sonata are considered a paradigm of disdainful, surly "objectivity" – Zimmermann achieves a tone that lends this movement an almost mysterious effect, which is all the more haunting in contrast to the rather sober, concertante character of the music. And the pizzicato passages in the middle movement of the Solo Sonata of 1937 familiarise listeners with an articulation of chords that had never actually been heard before. Their musical significance can be compared with the famous Bartók pizzicato in which the string is intended to slap against the fingerboard. In the recapitulation of the first movement of the great Duo Sonata of 1939, Zimmermann's and Thomas Hoppe's interpretation of the musically significant variant of the themes' rhythmic-metric configuration is achieved with great subtlety. And the famous fourth movement of the Solo Sonata, Op. 25 No. 1 with the notorious instruction "Rasendes Zeitmaß. Wild. Tonschönheit ist Nebensache" (Breakneck tempo. Wild. Beauty of sound is of secondary importance.) – a movement that has been rewritten, time and time again, by composers ranging from Schulhoff and Karl Amadeus Hartmann to Ligeti – Tabea Zimmermann not only unleashes incredible energy with her technical artistry, but also gives the movement a completely new form of musical "beauty". In short: all this is an interpretative deed on behalf of Hindemith!
Giselher Schubert