Hindemith’s own 1956 account of his Konzertmusik, Op 50 – (Columbia, 3/58 – sadly nla) – has never been bettered as a performance though others have surpassed it in sound quality. Two such were Bernstein’s for DG (5/91 – nla) and Bnlohlavek’s, also for Chandos, a ‘reading of intensity and grandeur’ that I warmly welcomed in 1996. The latter remains my top recommendation – Albert is insipid by comparison – though Tortelier’s is splendid and, like all of his Hindemith, absolutely in the idiom.
Leonidas Kavakos is the sweet-toned soloist in the unaccountably neglected Violin Concerto, which thankfully is coming into fashion in the studio. Next to Kavakos, Guttman’s tone and intonation are unacceptable; Serebrier’s direction is also leaden by comparison to Tortelier. Olding and even Oistrakh are worsted in some passages by the fleet-fingered Kavakos, but the Russian’s account, directed by the composer, remains essential. Where his cannot compete now with the newcomer is in recording quality. For my money, Kavakos and Tortelier are now the market leader.
The benchmark recordings of the Symphonic Metamorphosis are those by Blomstedt and Sawallisch. The BBC Philharmonic are not quite in the same league as the San Francisco (at least under Blomstedt) or Philadelphia bands, but provide an invigoratingly energetic performance swifter than these and Abbado’s splendid 1968 rival, recently reissued with Oistrakh and the composer in the Concerto.
Tortelier is preferable to his older Chandos stablemate, Jarvi, and marginally ahead of Sawallisch, though the latter’s couplings are very persuasive; Blomstedt remains – just – the first choice.
Overall then, thoroughly recommended