Hindemith: Sonatas for viola/piano & viola alone [Original recording reissued]

Paul Hindemith (Composer), Robert Levin (Performer), Kim Kashkashian (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Robert Levin, Kim Kashkashian
• Composer: Paul Hindemith
• Audio CD (April 18, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: ECM New Series
• ASIN: B0000260JB
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,824 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #7 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Viola

Editorial Reviews

Sonatas for the viola and the viola and piano

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent sound and interpretations, June 12, 2003

By 

Jeremiah Lawson (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hindemith: Sonatas for viola/piano & viola alone (Audio CD)

The sound quality is good and the performances are excellent. I recently had the opportunity to compare Kashkashian's performance with Hindemith's own 1930s recording and while I naturally give props to Hindemith for recording his own work I like Kashkashian's performance of the Op. 24 viola sonata more-- not just for sound but for the speed and fire she puts into the wild fourth movement.

Hindemith's contribution to viola repertoire is probably the single most important one of the 20th century and this is probably the best available recording of his works. It includes all the solo and with-piano works on just two discs. It's also nice that Kashkashian and Levin recorded the viola works that were unpublished during Hindemith's lifetime, giving us a fuller insight into his work for the instrument than we might otherwise hear.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hindemith expresses himself through the viola, July 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Hindemith: Sonatas for viola/piano & viola alone (Audio CD)

It's a shame that the viola is not showcased enough. Fortunately, composers such as Hindemith (as well as Bach and others) really took a liking to it (though it is said that Bach loved playing the viola to relieve his stress and was felt it was a valuable asset to music as a whole, he never wrote solo works for it) and expanded its repetoire. As a result, he had an easier time expressing his music via the viola, thus making this CD a great example of Hindemith as a whole. Although some people, who aren't fond of 20th-century music, may not appreciate the unaccompanied sonatas on Disc 1, it would be hard for any romantic NOT to immediately fall in love with the op. 11/4 Sonata with piano on Disc 2. As usual, Kashkashian and Levin do a great job--musically, technically, and as an ensemble.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly Rendered, Hauntingly Beautiful, February 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Hindemith: Sonatas for viola/piano & viola alone (Audio CD)

Violist Kim Kashkashian and Pianist Robert Levin have recorded performances here as impressive as any every committed to disc. With one CD of solo viola works and another of works of viola and piano together, this two CD set runs an entire universe of ideas, thoughts and feelings. The solo viola work is fabulous, both musically and technically. By the time you hear the haunting echoed tune of the Op.11 number 4, last movement being traded back-and-forth between the viola and piano, you will know that the musical repose of a brilliant musical mind like Hindemith's never goes out of style.