Hindemith, Paul - Violin Concerto - Zimmermann, Frank Peter (violin)

Frank Peter Zimmermann, violin

Enrico Pace, piano

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi

Paul Hindemith's first instrument was the violin, which he mastered so thoroughly that he became concertmaster of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra at the age of 19. Although his attention soon turned to the viola and composition, he continued to play and compose for the violin, creating a series of works that fascinatingly reflect the different stages of his musical language, from the vocabulary of late Romanticism to the monumental, revitalized Baroque style of his maturity. In this rich selection of works, the renowned violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, who was awarded the City of Hanau's International Paul Hindemith Prize in 2010, presents an eloquent justification for them, the E-flat major sonata, composed in 1918 while Hindemith was still serving in the German army on the Western Front, to the strikingly emotional violin concerto of 1939, written during his first year in exile from Nazi Germany. In addition to the masterful C major sonata, composed shortly before the concert, and the melodic E major sonata from 1935, Zimmermann also includes the solo sonata, Op. 31 No. 2, the last movement of which is a series of variations on a Mozart aria. In the sonatas, Zimmermann is supported by his regular chamber music partner, pianist Enrico Pace, while in the concerto he collaborates with Paavo Järvi, also a recipient of the Paul Hindemith Prize and chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Together, they convey an unusually colorful, sparkling, and passionate image of Paul Hindemith in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the composer's death.