Pianist Anna Gourari dazzles in these volatile and virtuosic performances of Schnittke and Hindemith, says Erik Levi in his review
Hindemith • Schnittke
Hindemith: Symphony ‘Mathis der Maler’; The Four Temperaments; Schnittke: Piano Concerto
Anna Gourari (piano); Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana/Markus Poschner
ECM 4875453 78:35 mins
Clip: Schnittke's Piano Concerto (Konzert fuer Klavier und Streichorchester)
At first glance, Alfred Schnittke’s free-wheeling style seems worlds apart from Paul Hindemith’s disciplined and emotionally tempered outlook.
On closer examination, however, both composers strove to write music that had an immediate impact.
The problem with Hindemith is that all too often his achievement has been undermined by dry colourless performances that make his music sound earnest and worthy.
Fortunately, this issue doesn’t arise with Anna Gourari’s mercurial account of the solo piano part in the ballet The Four Temperaments.
She extracts a dizzying range of colours from Hindemith’s ingeniously constructed score.
At one moment she’s playful and meditative, and then suddenly she breaks out into full-frontal percussive aggression.
The string section of the Orchestra della Sivzzera Italiana under Markus Poschner responds incisively to Gourari’s volatile playing, thereby enhancing my estimation of an unjustly neglected work that on this evidence deserves a permanent place in the repertoire.
In stark contrast, the Schnittke is one of the most frequently performed of all late-20th-century concertos.
As with so many of this composer’s works, it takes us on an emotionally charged journey with extreme juxtapositions of gesture.
As with the Hindemith, Gourari delivers a charismatic, engaging interpretation.
Hindemith’s ‘Mathis der Maler’ Symphony restores a semblance of stability, and Poschner’s unfussy yet carefully nuanced interpretation matches some of the finest available recordings of this work. Erik Levi
