Paul Hindemith - Sonata Op. 11/ no. 4 Timothy Ridout - Viola Ke Ma - Piano Recorded at the Wigmore Hall by Claudio Records on 15th November www.timothyridout.com/#about www.kemapianist.com/ www.claudiorecords.com/
The portamento and microtonal inflections in the sixth variation were kind of weird, but I thought it all made for great fun. (Young Hindemith would probably have approved; old Hindemith, probably not.) I like it when thoughtful performers use the score as a blueprint instead of as Holy Writ. And this is a superb performance.
Hindemith was in a German army string quartet during the First World War, and was in the middle of a performance of Debussy's string quartet when news came of Debussy's death. And a few months later Hindemith wrote this sonata.
