Hindemith: Wind Sonatas

The pieces by Paul Hindemith on this recording, have a special importance in the history of music. They stand at a crossroads, belonging to an era when progressive and post-Romantic tendencies still existed side by side. These five sonatas represent a deliberate return to a classical form, revealing, in Claude Rostand’s words, “a distinctive chromaticism that frees his emerging style from tonal instability and melodious fluidity”. It is the classical structures that he restores, “in so doing rejuvenating his very spirit with the most sovereign and daring freedom of thought”. Once again, these few words by Claude Rostand, who saw the composer “bearing the arms of Bach or Stravinsky”, seem to hit the nail on the head.