These are strong, vigorous live performances, intelligently programmed but compromised by surprisingly mediocre sonics. The Symphonic Metamorphosis has some strikingly characterful moments, especially the colorful Turandot Scherzo. Only the opening movement sounds a touch frantic, but the concluding March has an exciting spring in its step. The Concert Music for Strings and Brass goes even better; Christoph Eschenbach is particularly convincing in the grand unison string melody in the first movement’s latter half, while the jazzy second movement has both lightness and a nicely rhythmic point.
The Violin Concerto has not lacked for excellent recordings, including Hindemith’s own with David Oistrakh on Decca, as well as Stern/Bernstein on Sony, a performance that deserves more attention than it has ever received. This one is also very good, well paced and very well played by Midori, whose work in the more contemporary repertoire has not been much featured on disc. In high-lying passages her tone turns a bit thin and wiry, though again this may be a function of the sonics, which put her out front while turning the orchestra into a sort of darkish blob behind.
Indeed, the biggest problem is the engineering, a surprise coming from this source. It could be that the presence of the (very quiet) audience soaked up some of the higher frequencies, but for whatever reason the sound has a muffled quality that isn’t helped by Hindemith’s often thick scoring. The Concert Music, with its clear opposition of strings and brass, suffers least in this respect, but in the more busily scored sections of the other two works, textures and internal balances lack the requisite clarity. This must have sounded much better in person.
