NOSPR / Lawrence Foster / Arabella Steinbacher by Brahms, Hindemith, Van (2022/2022), Dirigent Lawrence Foster, NOSPR, Katowice, Polen

Paul Hindemith’s Violin Concerto, composed on the eve of the Second World War, is the only concerto for this instrument in his rich oeuvre. In the classical three movements, it is distinguished by its strongly chromaticised musical material, as it was written shortly after The Craft of Musical Composition, a textbook in which Hindemith set out the basic theses of his harmonic system, based on the energy of chords. It also includes plenty of subtle allusions to music history, which links it to the other protagonist of our concert, Johannes Brahms. The latter’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a are filled with rococo elegance and an optimistic tone. About his Second Symphony in D major, Op. 73, close to a pastoral mood, the composer stated that he had never written anything so sad.