These performances were recorded during the fiftieth anniversary of the Montreux-Vevey Music Festival in 1995 which, by virtue of Hindemith’s connections with Switzerland and the centenary of his birth that year, featured several concerts devoted to his music. As live recordings these accounts have all the good and bad points of such performances: unfortunately, the not-so-good (including banging doors and a chair grating across a floor) are a little too much in evidence. Sermet is a capable pianist who gives a well-thought-out interpretation of Ludus tonalis (1942): but, as in all live performances designed to be heard once, there are awkwardnesses and fluffs – Sermet is at his least impressive in the busier figurations of the faster sections. No doubt, these would have been ironed out in the studio; as it is, the recording unkindly preserves them for posterity. Accordingly, this account cannot challenge those by McCabe, Mustonen or Roberts, nor Hans Petermandl’s pioneering version for Marco Polo. As the performance is live, perhaps the fairest comparison would be with that of Sviatoslav Richter. Sermet certainly has the advantage of better sound, but he is no match for the Russian in finesse or excitement.
Much the same holds true for the Suite, 1922. Sermet again throws himself into this work with much enthusiasm – McCabe seems understated by comparison – but the end result strikes me as being dangerously close to clatter. My recommendation remains the McCabe; MS’s, I know, is for Mustonen – stick with them.'