Repertoire
The Amar Quartet performed about 500 concerts from 1921 until 1929. They played in the major German metropolises as well as in numerous provincial towns. With travels to Denmark, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia, the Quartet became renowned beyond German borders as well. During the winters of 1927/28 and 1928/29, the Quartet undertook two extended concert tours to the Soviet Union, during which Hindemith was able to gain an impression of contemporary Russian music. He also encountered Dmitri Shostakovich at this time.
The Amar Quartet presented an extraordinarily extensive and varied repertoire at its concerts, including not only string quartets but also works for trio, quintet or sextet combinations. They intentionally concentrated on works that were not considered standard works of classical and romantic chamber music. For this reason, quartets of Haydn and Beethoven were relatively rarely played on their programmes; instead the Amar Quartet played works of Schumann, Verdi and Dvorák. The ensemble rapidly became known for its unfussy, clear interpretations of the classics.
The Amar Quartet was of towering importance in concert life of the 1920s thanks to its indefatigable commitment to contemporary music. The fact that the works of Paul Hindemith stood at the centre of these efforts is not surprising, in view of the personal union of composer and interpreter. But the Amar Quartet was also committed to performing the works of other composers. Strings quartets by Béla Bartók, Max Butting, Alfredo Casella, Alois Hába, Philipp Jarnach, Ernst Krenek, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schönberg, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern and many others were included on their programmes. A considerable number of premieres contemporary works were given by the Amar Quartet.
