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. 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?

Sorry, it's beyond me at the moment so I can't comment... but I LOVE IT!!!!!

Thank you for the link - it's now on my 'I WISH' list!!!

I've played the first movement of Der Schwanendreher and the beginning of op. 25 no. 1... can't say I ever became a fan Good for you if you enjoy it though! The prospect of Hindemith was one of the things which made me lose motivation to practice But I do like op. 11 no. 4 and I have to admit that Der Schwanendreher has nice/interesting moments.

I've played Der Schwanendreher and I learnt the first and second movements of the Sonata in F op 11 no 4 for my diploma (but I eventually played something else in the exam as the piano accompaniment is very difficult, and I was too worried about being able to find someone to accompany me ).

I found that the more I played the sonata the more I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a challenge. I think it was harder than I expected from my first impressions. There is a bit with a non-standard key signature which took some getting used to.

Good luck with the Kammermusik No.5

Good luck with 'Kammermusik No 5', viola-mad... I think most mortals would run a mile, but I reckon you should go for it.

What with my recent thread on Hindemith's Ludus Tonalis (in Diploma forum) there seems to be a Hindemith flavour in the air lately... his work is over-due for a revival.

denmark

OH MY GOODNESS, it IS scary isn't it?

just listened to it and I was scared only listening to it

Ha ha, that did make me laugh! I hope you have settled your nerves with something a bit calmer.

I don't know Der Schwanendreher, so thanks for the recommendations. I will have to go and look that one up. 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?

Lilly, I'll be on my guard for dwindling motivation if I do take up the challenge. I'm not scared to stop at the first movement if I decide I hate it after all.

I hadn't spotted this - thanks for the tip off. I visit the Diploma forum from time to time, but I'm not a regular there. I shall go and have a read.

It's beyond me as well - but then I always think that before I've got my teeth into a piece. I don't think I ever truly know if it is beyond me until I've spent a couple of weeks practising and gone over it a few times in my lessons. However I can be certain of one thing - I don't think I'll ever be able to play it as aggressively as the violist in the youtube clip! Glad you liked it.

PS Jojo, great to see the latest update on your signature!

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 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.



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

I had forgotten about Trauermusik, but it was actually the first Hindemith piece I learned. It's probably better "introductory" Hindemith than Kammermusik 5 - the challenges are more expressive than technical. Unfortunately, it was given to me when I was about 13 and I didn't understand it at all, but I heard someone else play it a couple of years later and enjoyed it