Hindemith, Have you played any? Options

[viola-mad]

I'm nearly ready to start on a new piece. Something is drawing me towards Hindemith - and not one of his lyrical, melodic pieces either, oh no. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) The scary Kammermusik No 5.

The sheet music looks frightening in the same way that Moto Perpetuo does - there's no let-up. It's also completely covered in accidentals. Has anyone played this, or anything similar by Hindemith? What did you think of it? Did it end up being easier or harder than at first impression?

[purple viola]

Earlier this year I heard Lawrence Power on the radio playing Op 11 no 4 and I loved it, so it's good to hear that folks on here have enjoyed playing it. It was actually hearing that which made me give Hindemith a second look. It's surprisingly melodic given what I thought I knew of Hindemith, but it's interesting to hear that Purple Viola found it harder than expected. Also I am intrigued by the non-standard key signature... care to enlighten us?

The second movement was harder than expected from first impressions because I found it difficult to get the intonation completely accurate, as some of the intervals are a bit strange, and it required some interesting fingering. It was very easy in places to play notes that sounded correct rather than notes that Hindemith actually wrote. It just took time for my ears to get used to the way the piece is supposed to sound. The non-standard key signature at the end of the second movement has F sharp and G sharp - no C sharp. The second movement also has a couple of different time signatures grouped together right at the beginning to cover random changes of time signature throughout the theme, but that wasn't a problem. I really liked playing the sonata.

As a flutist I played the sonata and I really like it, particularly the 2nd mvt beautiful but physically demanding.
One really moving piece I learnt on the viola is Trauermusic that he composed in one night in London after the death of the king.

The Trauermusik is lovely and much easier to play than the sonata 11/4.