This record contains the complete works written by German musician Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) for piano duo, both his compositions for piano four hands and for two pianos. Although Hindemith was a violist, not a pianist, he knew his way around the piano well: he was a keen multi-instrumentalist, and often performed at the keyboard. His fam of a high technical level and feature great originality of expression. Hindemith deserves to be included – alongside Claude Debussy, Arnold Schönberg, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók and Sergei Prokofiev – in the small group of innovators who significantly enhanced the piano repertoire in the early twentieth century.
This new recording presents 8 Waltzes, Op. 6, the composer’s arrangement for piano 4-hands of his orchestral masterpiece Mathis der Maler, the Sonata for piano 4 hands, and finally the 1942 Sonata for Two Pianos, arguably outdoing all the others in terms of its originality and the wealth of ideas it contains. It is a milestone work in the piano duo repertoire, on a par with another masterpiece from the era, Stravinsky’s Concerto for Two Pianos.
Played by two distinguished Italian pianists, Simone Nocchi and Filippo Farinelli, who is the leading power behind many recording projects for Brilliant Classics in works by Hindemith (Complete solo sonatas with piano), Jolivet, Dallapiccola, Ravel, Debussy, Koechlin and Berg.
