Hindemith: Der Schwanendreher, Konzertmuzik

In a BBC Radio 3 ''Building a Library'' feature which I did two years ago, Blomstedt's Decca recording of the Mathis der Maler Symphony was then, and has remained, an obvious first choice. He seems to have an instinct for pacing and weighting Hindemith. Take this new Nobilissima Visione: there's momentum and energy in the second movement's central fugato (both of which flag in the recent Tortelier version on Chandos) with incisive timpani, quite different from the heavy-weight wrestling match of the composer's own recording (EMI, 5/58—nla). Or the rondo (from 3'40'') in the first movement where some may find Blomstedt a little fast,

I personally warm to its balletic grace and shape at this flowing tempo (closer to the score's marking than most)—the piece is, after all, a 'choreographic legend'.

This Concert Music is quite simply the finest we have had on disc to date. I made a similar claim for Bernstein (DG) in 1991, but his very broad manner for the opening, his lachrymose treatment of the second movement's central langsam, and steep rits. won't be to all tastes. The San Francisco strings negotiate their challenging tasks with the sort of confidence and lack of strain that give the impression of greater accuracy than usual, and the balance between brass and strings is near perfect. There is a wide dynamic and expressive range here, but no exaggeration; to name but one of many highlights, the sehr breit second section of the first movement finally opens out to stunning effect.

That range, at times, seems comparatively narrow in Der Schwanendreher (Hindemith's third viola concerto which, like Mathis, uses songs from the Altdeutsches Liederbuch), with a performance that respects its modest forces and gestures. Geraldine Walther is balanced 'from the desks' (except that there are no orchestral violas or violins in this concerto) and plays with gentle expressiveness in the slow movement, and a light touch in the finale. Blomstedt tailors his accompaniment to match, and the result has all the intimacy and clarity of chamber music. For more traditional display you will have to turn to the two Daniels (Benyamini and Barenboim) on DG—a fine performance saddled with Steinberg's glossy but often coarse and uncaring Boston recordings of Mathis and the Concert Music.'

-- John Steane, Gramophone [4/1993]