Hindemith: Nusch-Nuschi Tänze, Sancta Susanna, Op. 21 & Symphony "Mathis der Maler" (Naxos) Review

  

Hindemith: Nusch-Nuschi Tänze, Sancta Susanna, Op. 21 & Symphony "Mathis der Maler"

Length: 60 minutes

Conductor: Marin Alsop

Orchestra: ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

    I had always been a fan of Naxos as a record label that really champion lesser known works throughout the Classical Music genre, and this new album that came out not long ago on German composer Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963)'s earlier operas: Das Nusch-Nuschi (1920), Sancta

Susanna (1921), and Mathis der Maler (1933 - 1934).

    The first piece on the album is Hindemith's Nusch-Nuschi Tänze, a short 8 minutes or so dance suite extracted from the opera Das Nusch-Nuschi, part of his earliest one-act opera trilogy: Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (1919), Das Nusch-Nuschi (1920), and Sancta Susanna (1921) which is all in this expressionist style, and is very interestingly all focused on a common theme of sexuality. 

    The booklet attached to the album, which you could find on IDAGIO, and the Naxos's site itself, goes in the story of the operas themselves, and although it doesn't really have too much to do with this first piece specifically since it is just a dance suite, it will matter for the next, and it is certainly an interesting read, so I suggest anyone interested to check out. All you have to know going in to the dance suite Nusch-Nuschi Tänze is that the opera is comedic, and the dance suite reflex that by being very boucy and melodic and fun. The piece contains a few different fugues, however the contrapuntal nature of these does not muddy the swing of this little suite, and it is fantastically exciting. And being the only recording of this suite on an album that I could find, the performance is very solid, and really brings out the fun and scherzo-esque nature of the piece.

    The second piece on the album, Sancta Susanna (1921), is a lot darker, although not in any tragic ways. There is a lot of tension and theatrical drama, and the instrumentation Hindemith creates for this opera is very colorful in a very horrifying manner. The booklet goes in depth to specific moments, although I have to confess that for myself I didn't find the piece particularly scary, nor did the instrumentation. But it is very good in a pure musical sense, and it is the only one of the three opera on this album that isn't an orchestral suite or excerpt. This one have all the singers and narrators, and at around 25 minutes it is the entire opera. You can find the translations to the lyrics and its original German version on both Naxos and the booklet.

    Performance wise, this is also very good. The orchestra never disrupt the clarity of the opera singer's clarity in pronunciation, and I, as a none German speaker, had a pretty easy time following along the lyrics. And I can be certain that I was in sync in my following of the translation because when Susanna (a character in the opera) screamed "Satan! Satan!" That I did hear and can confirm that I was on pace. 

    Following along the lyrics really added to the performance, but just listening to it along was quite nice too, and I certainly think this was a better recording than the existing one on Chandos which lacks a lot of that clarity in this new recording, and the orchestra playing on that one was also sub-optimal. If you want to give this opera a listen, this is the recording.

    And finally, the most famous piece on this entire album, Symphony "Mathis der Maler" which have many recordings and a fascinating historical background to the piece involving resignations and Nazis and all that fun early World War II stuff. Details, once again, can be found on the Naxos site and the booklet on Idagio. 

    Now, personally I do not see this piece as highly as most others for the simple reason of it not being as memorable as other Hindemith's pieces, like the Sancta Susanna on this album. However, I suggest you to listen to the piece yourself and make your own musical judgements. What I will say is the recording on this album was not it. The fast parts felt too slow, and the slow parts felt even slower. The couple of fugal segments in the last movements was muddy and unclear, and lacks a lot of that fiery that should be in the piece considering its story. 

    If you want to listen to a good recording, you can try Claudio Abbado with the Berlin Phil on Deutsche Grammophon, or Herbert von Karajan also with the Berlin Phil on Warners, or any of the other many many recordings out there. This recording with ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop was just not it. But, the other two pieces on this album was performed and recorded very well, and I do suggest those two pieces for my Hindemith fans out there that are interested in some early Hindemith.