Symphonic Metamorphosis

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
These 1987 realizations of the Mathis Symphony and the Symphonic Metamorphosis from Herbert Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony, marking their first recorded collaboration, are powerful, deeply felt, and thrilling to the ear. The Mathis is particularly striking in its evocation of mood: dramatic without being overblown. Blomstedt is notably successful with the score's difficult concluding movement--by making each of its episodes substantive, he makes the whole seem less episodic than it usually does. Both here and in the Symphonic Metamorphosis, there is beautiful wind and brass playing from the San Franciscans; they are clearly well rehearsed and exhibit a commendable responsiveness to Blomstedt's direction. The recording is of demonstration quality: impressive in its depth, sense of space, and visceral impact. --Ted Libbey

Tracks:

1. Engelskonzert
2. Grablegung
3. Versuchung Des Heiligen Antonius
1. Langsam/2. Ruhig Bewegt/3. Lebhaft/4. Marsch - Geraldine Walther
1. Allegro
2. Turandot, Scherzo: Moderato
3. Lebhaft
4. Sehr Langsam

Tracks:

1. Massig Schnell, Mit Kraft - Sehr Breit, Aber Stets Fliessend
Lebhaft - Langsam - Im Ersten Zeitmass
1. 'Zwischen Berg Und Tiefem Tal' - Geraldine Walther
2. 'Nun Laube, Lindlein, Laube!' - Geraldine Walther
3. Variations: 'Seid Ihr Nicht Der Schwanendreher?' - Geraldine Walther
1. Einleitung Und Rondo
2. Marsch Und Pastorale
3. Passacaglia

Tracks:

1. Moderately Fast
2. Geschwindmarsch By Beethoven, Paraphrase
3. Colloquy
4. Finale
1. Musica Instrumentalis
2. Musica Humana
3. Musica Mundana

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful.......2005-09-11

The Trio series is unquestionably, along with EMI's Gemini sets, one of the best available. This particular item is a complete set of Hindemith's orchestral works, and not only do we get full servings at over 60 minutes per CD, but you get fantastic performances as well. These Blomstedt SFSO/Leipzig Gewandhauser recordings were originally issued at full price on Decca, and when one hears them one can tell why. The orchestras sound transparent and lovely, and Blomstedt doesn't force the music, which works perfectly and is an approach strangely similar to the best interpretations of Mozart. Emotion is given its full due: I challenge you to find a single phrase here that is either too boistrous or too grim. The recording quality is amazing - so fine, in fact, that the captured sonics themselves are a significant bonus to the set. And the price! To pay, Melville wrote, is the worst affliction the two orchard thieves inflicted upon us. Luckily for you and me, the price is small - and the music is worth a hundred times the price to boot. Get it without hesitation.

Not really a review, just filling in missing information.......2004-08-01

This is a compilation of 3 discs previously released separately, all conducted by Blomstedt and highly rated by critics.

Disc 1 (with San Francisco Symphony):
Mathis der Maler symphony (tracks 1-3)
Trauermusik for viola and strings (track 4)
Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber (tracks 5-8)

Disc 2 (with San Francisco Symphony):
Konzertmusik for brass and strings (tracks 1-2)
Der Schwanendreher (viola concerto) (tracks 3-5)
Nobilissima Visione suite (tracks 6-8)

Disc 3 (with Gewandhausorchester Lepizig):
Symphonie Serena (tracks 1-4)
Symphonie "Die Harmonie der Welt" (tracks 5-7)

Hindemith: Symphony 'Mathis der Maler'/Trauermusik/Symphonic Metamorphosis

Average customer rating:

Worth even scalper's prices!!!!!
Only the best if you haven't heard that many . . .
Essential Hindemith
Best Mathis I've heard Hindemith didn't conduct
Popular Hindemith showpieces in brilliant sound

Hindemith: Symphony 'Mathis der Maler'/Trauermusik/Symphonic Metamorphosis

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Nielsen: Symphonies 4 & 5
Berwald: Symphonies Nos. 1 "Sinfonie sérieuse" & 4 "Sinfonie naive"
Bach - Mass in B minor / Argenta, Nichols, Chance, Stafford, Milner, W. Evans, Gardiner
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, Overture To Fidelio / Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Schumann: Complete Symphonies

ASIN: B0000041UH
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Sym 'Mathis Der Maler': I. Angelic Concert
Sym 'Mathis Der Maler': II. Entombment
Sym 'Mathis Der Maler': III. Temptation Of St. Anthony
Trauermusik: I. Langsam/II. Ruhig Bewegt/III. Lebhaft/IV. Sehr Langsam - Geraldine Walther
Symphonic Metamorphosis: I. Allegro
Symphonic Metamorphosis: II. Turandot, Scherzo: Moderato
Symphonic Metamorphosis: III. Andantino
Symphonic Metamorphosis: IV. March

Amazon.com

These 1987 realizations of the Mathis Symphony and the Symphonic Metamorphosis from Herbert Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony, marking their first recorded collaboration, are powerful, deeply felt, and thrilling to the ear. The Mathis is particularly striking in its evocation of mood: dramatic without being overblown. Blomstedt is notably successful with the score's difficult concluding movement--by making each of its episodes substantive, he makes the whole seem less episodic than it usually does. Both here and in the Symphonic Metamorphosis, there is beautiful wind and brass playing from the San Franciscans; they are clearly well rehearsed and exhibit a commendable responsiveness to Blomstedt's direction. The recording is of demonstration quality: impressive in its depth, sense of space, and visceral impact. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Worth even scalper's prices!!!!!.......2004-10-01

I would pay 50 dollars for this recording. I might pay more. Simply put this is the best rendition of Mathis and Symphonic Metamorphasis ever put to tape. The recording of Mathis is actually brilliant, with the brass and strings creating some of the best music ever heard on cd. I was almost in tears the first time I heard these recordings years ago. I lost my copy and have recently purchased this recording used. Again, I stress, this is the best recording of these pieces you are likely to find.
Some of the finest brass playing ever! Has an edge but never does one get a sense of the homogonized whole ever being lost... at times sounding like an organ. I would reccomend this as one of the top five recordings I have ever owned... and I own somewhere over five hundred discs. Happy hunting and good luck!

Only the best if you haven't heard that many . . ........2004-03-30

I have Blomstedt's "Mathis," and I like it. But it seems more expert and competent, and well-recorded, than it is deeply felt or insightful. Rickenbacker's recording on Virgin is still available (from Amazon and elsewhere), and while the orchestral playing is just below the highest standard, I prefer it for a more atmospheric performance with deeper moods. The best of all is Steinberg's recording on the DGG label, which was later released on a budget line, and perhaps can still be found. This is perhaps the closest I've heard to Hindemith's own 1930's recording, and despite it's 1970's vintage, features a virtuosity and tonal beauty, combined with elegance, communicativeness, and drama in a way no others really match. Jiri Belohlavek's recording on Chandos is also one I'd probably pick over Blomdstedt's, and Bernstein's and Horenstein's recrodings also deserve a favorable mention. Chandos has an excellent line of Hindemith recordings led by Tortelier. His Nobilissima Visione is more deeply felt than Blomstedt's (or any other I've heard) and beautifully recorded, as are his other Hindemith recordings on that label

Essential Hindemith.......2003-06-06

If you are going to own only one CD of Hindemith's music, I urge you to make it this one. The Mathis der Maler symphony (1934) and the Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber (1943) are probably Paul Hindemith's two greatest orchestral works. The music is appealing, vital, beautifully crafted, accessible, bristling with a masculine vigor, exuberance, energy. Blomstedt is arguably the foremost Hindemith conductor of our day; these performances are expert, heartfelt, and superbly realized, displaying these two works in all their considerable glory. The sound (the recordings were made in Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 1987) is representative of the splendid Decca/London engineering at its best; this is an exemplary modern digital orchestral recording: well balanced, with full frequency range, wide dynamic range, every detail of the inventive orchestration clearly registering. This CD has been warmly praised by critics, receiving strong recommendations in the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and the Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide. A standout recording by any measure.

This was the first in a series of distinguished Decca/London recordings made by Blomstedt with the San Francisco Symphony, whose music director he was from 1985 to 1995. This series included a second splendid Hindemith release. Blomstedt was music director of the great Staatskapelle Dresden from 1975 to 1985, and made a distinguished series of recordings there for Denon. He is now music director of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, where he has made a third excellent Hindemith recording (also on Decca).

There is a viable, worthy budget-priced alternative to the Blomstedt CD on Sony Essential Classics, featuring the same two works, with the Mathis der Maler symphony performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy (recorded 1962) and the Symphonic Metamorphoses performed by the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell (recorded 1964). Both are very fine performances, and for those on a budget the disc can be confidently recommended. But the 1960's Columbia/CBS sound of these recordings, while perfectly acceptable, simply cannot compete with the demonstration-class sound of the Blomstedt recording, which is much richer, fuller, with greater clarity and delineation of detail.

Both CDs offer a filler, and both fillers are well chosen and entirely appropriate. In the case of Blomstedt, it's Hindemith's brief (8:38), touching Trauermusik for viola and orchestra, a piece he wrote on very short order (in six hours!) for the BBC after the death of King George V in 1936 (he played the viola part too). In the case of Ormandy/Szell, it's Walton's varied and colorful Variations on a Theme by Hindemith, a longer work (22:45) of Walton's later years (1963), played by the Cleveland Orchestra under Szell (1964). Both are attractive works, but the Walton is the more substantial.

Best Mathis I've heard Hindemith didn't conduct.......2003-06-03

The pacing for all these works is very good and while the speed of the Mathis der Maler seemed a bit fast to me I compared it to Hindemith's own 1933 recording and discovered it wasn't much faster even though this recording of Mathis is faster than the 1950s version of the symphony Hindemith recorded. The livelier tempi serve the music better and the engineering is pretty good. I've got a soft spot for Hindemith interpreting his own work but Blomstedt's recording here is the best version I've heard so far whether for engineering, balance of orchestral sound, pacing, and general interpretation.

Popular Hindemith showpieces in brilliant sound.......2002-06-19

This is one of the finest performances of the "Symphonic Metamorphosis" I've ever heard: beautifully paced with well-judged tempi, and outstandingly precise, warm playing from the orchestra, including sensational work from the brass. This piece can sound pompous in the wrong hands, but Blomstedt makes it vivid and fresh, and the crisp sound reproduction makes every glittering detail audible. The second movement's tangy percussion has perhaps never sounded so immediate, and the final "March" carries shockwaves in its wake.

"Mathis der Maler" is also excellent, again with outstanding playing by the orchestra. And in between, Blomstedt includes a heartfelt rendition of "Trauermusik," with glowing playing by violist Geraldine Walther, and the closing -- a Bach-based chorale -- immensely moving.

This composer seems much-maligned in recent years, but here is an outstanding example of some of his better work, performed with ear-catching vigor and intensity, and presented in utterly spectacular sound. If you're going to explore Hindemith's work, you could not ask for a better start than this recording.

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