Sonatas for Horn & Piano

Paul Hindemith and Bernhard Heiden - Sonatas for Horn & Piano

LP released in 1981

Performers:

Caswell Neal - horn
Zita Carno - piano

The two Sonatas by Paul Hindemith represented on this album represent in full flower the consolidation of his musical language achieved in his celebrated opera, Mathis der Maler, but in the context of the duo sonata for wind instruments. The 1939 Horn Sonata is contemporaneous with the powerful Violin Concerto, while the 1943 piece, composed after he had settled down to a professorship at Yale, having emigrated from a Nazi-dominated Middle-Europe, has as its major companionpiece the brilliant and popular Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber.
In commentary supplied for this recording, horn soloist, Caswell Neal, after noting the love that Hindemith shared for the horn in common with his great Austro-German predecessors, Mozart, Weber, Schumann, Brahms, and Bruckner, gives the following description of the music:
"The first movement leads off with a bold statement for horn, tempered subsequently by more tender and reflective material. A sudden return to the bravura manner ensues with repeated horn calls. A second assertive theme is introduced, this time with interchange between horn and piano. All this occurs within the first page of the horn part. The movement as a whole continues in this vein of contrast between the brisk and heroic, the tender and reflective. A lively coda recalls the opening and leads to the final bars on a note of high resolution. The slow movement opens with a broad, peaceful statement for piano, then taken up by the horn, which then turns the tables with a bolder version; but calm returns quickly and we soon hear thematic elements in inverted form. The music then works toward a brassy climax, then returns to its tranquil opening theme, this time inverted. Abrupt interjections by horn and piano serve as introduction to the spirited finale, with the opening theme proper following in quick succession. A slow section, introduced via a variant of the slow movement main theme, leads to the most haunting and memorable part of the music. The piano brings us back to the fast music, and after dialogue development, the slow episode is recalled, this time leading to a climactic statement for horn. The main elements of the exposition are recalled, then the second movement main theme variant dovetailed with the third movement opening theme, which then becomes inverted to provide a broad and virile ending to the whole Sonata."
While the 1939 Sonata is scored for horn in F, the 1943 work was written originally for the alto horn in E-flat, more commonly associated with the marching band. However, the composer indicated the French horn and/or saxophone as perfectly acceptable alternates, and Mr. Neal in his notes emphasizes his own preference for the more agile and expressive French horn, and accordingly has used it on this album. Herewith his comments on the music:
"The opening is a quiet and noble statement for horn with piano accompaniment - short and full of feeling. The brief movement as a whole constitutes a kind of prelude - a Hindemithian glimpse of ethereal music. Brisk and busy interplay between horn and piano in varying meters characterizes the second movement. The dynamic range of the horn is fully exploited, but the end is quiet.
Following the slow-fast-slow-fast sequence of the baroque sonata da chiesa, Hindemith gives us here another brief slow movement, this time in dialogue format between piano and horn.
Finally, before the last movement proper, Hindemith requests a reading of a spoken dialogue of his own composition, which states in quietly eloquent fashion something of the composer's own perspective on music past, present, and future:
THE POSTHORN (DIALOGUE)
Horn Player:
'Is not the sounding of a horn to our busy souls (even as the scent of blossoms wilted long ago, or the discolored folds of musty tapestry, or crumbling leaves of ancient yellowed tomes) like a sonorous visit from those ages which counted speed by straining horses' gallop, and not by lightning prisoned up in cables; and when to live and learn they ranged the countryside, not just the closely printed pages? The cornucopia's gift calls forth in us a pallid yearning, melancholy longing.'
Pianist:
'The old is good not just because it's past, nor is the new supreme because we live with it, and never yet a man felt greater joy than he could bear or truly comprehend. Your task it is, amid confusion, rush, and noise to grasp the lasting, calm, and meaningful, and finding it anew, to hold and treasure it.'
The piano leads off the last movement with a virtuoso evocation of the modern hustle-bustle. Then the horn makes its quiet statement with a song in slow tempo. They build together, but the horn insists on the stately and the ordered, holding out against the onslaughts of piano to the very end."

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Bernhard Heiden, born in Frankfurt, Germany, was a pupil of Hindemith who finished his studies in the U.S. He has been teaching composition at Indiana University since 1946 and has composed prolifically for all manner of instruments. His 1939 Horn Sonata is of distinctly lighter character as compared to the ordered and thoughtful complexities of his mentor.
Caswell Neal describes the music as follows:
"The 2/2 Moderato opening movement has the horn leading off with a quiet statement, with subordinate themes following over a moody piano accompaniment. The piano is indeed most skillfully used to announce changes in direction throughout the entire movement. When the original theme is heard again, it is at half the original tempo; but the tempo primo resumes speedily. Contrasting episodes of calm and energy carry the movement to another half-tempo statement of the main theme, which serves via crescendo to end it. The second movement contrasts a quiet minuetto section with a vivace pitting horn against piano. The minuetto section returns in intensified vein. A highly effective obbligato episode for horn leads to a brief and tranquil coda. The finale is a lively 2/2 rondo of almost quickstep character with horn and piano vying vigorously, one against the other. The concluding pages of the movement are marked by the expected return of the main theme, but this time in triplets."
In recent correspondence to Caswell Neal, the composer, Heiden, had some interesting comments on the SONATA:
"The Horn Sonata was written for Theodore Seder who was the first horn player with the Detroit Symphony in 1939. He later became the Librarian of the Fleisher Collection of the Public Library in Philadelphia.
I was not aware at the time that I composed the work that Hindemith was also writing a Sonata for Horn that same year. Nor, I am sure, was he aware of my piece. I do remember showing it to him 1 or 2 years later. The last movement contains some Greek dance rhythms which I heard while dining in a Detroit Greek restaurant! This was long before we ever came to Greece where we now have spent many summers and 2 sabbaticals." (from the liner notes)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Horn & Piano: Massig bewegt {5:22}
Hindemith's Sonata for Horn & Piano composed in 1939

2. Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Horn & Piano: Ruhig bewegt {3:56}

3. Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Horn & Piano: Lebhaft {6:45}

Side 2

1. Bernhard Heiden - Sonata for Horn & Piano: Moderato {4:35}
Heiden's Sonata for Horn & Piano composed in 1939

2. Bernhard Heiden - Sonata for Horn & Piano: Tempo di minuetto {4:14}

3. Bernhard Heiden - Sonata for Horn & Piano: Rondo: Allegretto {3:02}

4. Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Alto Horn in E-Flat (or Horn) & Piano: Ruhig bewegt {1:49}
Hindemith's Sonata for Alto Horn in E-Flat (or Horn) & Piano composed in 1943

5. Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Alto Horn in E-Flat (or Horn) & Piano: Lebhaft {3:25}

6. Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Alto Horn in E-Flat (or Horn) & Piano: Sehr langsam {1:46}

7. Paul Hindemith - Sonata for Alto Horn in E-Flat (or Horn) & Piano: The Posthorn (Dialogue); Lebhaft {3:38}

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