Symphonic Metamorphosis / Mathis der Maler

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins

‘This is ideal repertoire for the BBCSSO, with its beefy lower strings, its bright, biting brass and searing violins’ (The Guardian)

This album contains Hindemith’s most popular orchestral works, including the Balanchine-choreographed Symphonic Metamorphosis, performed with lapidary precision and great empathy by Hyperion regulars the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins, who have proved themselves consummate interpreters of this composer. Countermanding his reputation a composer of grim, gritty music, this is Hindemith at his most genuinely enjoyable—as Gavin Plumley writes in his informative booklet notes: ‘Hindemith’s music is both intelligible and intellectual, as entertaining as it is finely wrought’.

Hindemith:
 Konzertmusik, Op. 50 for strings & brass
 Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
 Symphony 'Mathis der Maler'

"Thanks to Hyperion for their continuing commitment to this composer. As for the indefatigable Martyn Brabbins he’s a maestro who is never less than engaging and is clearly committed to the music."
MusicWeb International - 18th December 2013

"Hindemith's courageousness inspired music of great luminosity, a quality certainly captured by Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony...if the BBC Scottish Symphony is never going to match the smoothness of, say, the Berlin Philharmonic...the new performances are no less memorable."
BBC Music Magazine - January 2014 *****

"The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra audibly relish the challenges of each work and turn in immaculate perforrmances of each, caught in superb sound by Mike Clements...Brabbins's interpretation have good rhythmic thrust and drive."
Gramophone Magazine - January 2014