Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) was a German composer, violist, conductor and teacher, central to 20th-century classical music. Key works include Ludus Tonalis, the Kammermusik cycle and the symphony Mathis der Mahler.

Born 1895, died 1963; German composer and violist; noted for contrapuntal technique and chamber music; faced hostility from the Nazi regime and left Germany (late 1930s); composed Ludus Tonalis (1942) and Mathis der Mahler; taught and worked internationally.

DeBaser reviews praise Hindemith's mastery of counterpoint and his energetic chamber writing. Ludus Tonalis is highlighted as a modern, rigorously organized piano cycle. The Kammermusik cycle is noted for rhythmic verve and instrumental virtuosity. Reviews also recall Hindemith's difficulties under Nazism and his exile.

For:Listeners of 20th-century classical music, pianists, chamber-music enthusiasts, students of counterpoint

 This CD by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) is recommended for lovers of solo piano, a composer with a strong personality who paid for his independence from the Nazi regime with exile, and who musically faced hostility from his peers for not conforming to the prevailing trends of his time: on one side the twelve-tone dictates imposed by Schoenberg, and on the other the neoclassical counter-reformation championed by Stravinsky.

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 Rhythmic vivacity and instrumental verve are just two of the characteristics of the "Kammermusik" cycle by Paul Hindemith: seven compositions written in the 1920s, along with a piece for wind quintet, the "Kleine Kammermusik," which is also typically included in the cycle.

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 Joseph Goebbels publicly called Hindemith a "vile atonal noisemaker," and his work began to be viewed in a different light.

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