Hindemith: Organ Sonata No.1

Paul Hindemith was celebrated as a violinist and violist: he also learned to play virtually all the other orchestral instruments. In the late 1930s – a dark period when he was under persecution from the Nazi regime who condemned his music as ‘degenerate’ - he began composing a series of sonatas for various instruments. This Sonata – the first three for organ - was written in Berlin between June 18-21, 1937: it's the most extended and the most ‘modern’ of his three for the organ.

Though largely a free-structure, it never seems shapeless, devoid of contour or undirected as almost all themes heard are derived from material in the introduction so they can be heard evolving. Whilst its classical lines, clear textures and freshness look forward to the much more purely neo-classical second and third sonatas, this first still looks back over its shoulder to bygone the Romantic era – particularly in the central Phantasie whose dramatic, explosive gestures and passionate expression pay homage to Reger.

Hindemith was not an organist and, as with sonatas 2 and 3, avoided giving specific colour (registration) directions in the score, leaving those who play them free to colour-in the works according to their imagination, taste and instrument. He did preface the work with a general direction: "Players with organs of expression boxes are free to use richer colouring and dynamic transitions to strengthen the expression beyond the degree specified in the dynamic indications."

Sonata No.1 remains a significant work of its time. Sectional fragments, lively motifs, intricate contrapuntal textures: it is a tour de force whose rhythmical drive and instrumental virtuosity, traditional sounds, modern and new ideas, combine in one fresh and captivating whole. The ending of the sonata is utterly magical, surely one of the most magical endings to be found anywhere…

I’ve played the first sonata many times over the years, but, although I’ve learnt them and play them occasionally for my own pleasure, haven’t yet performed 2 or 3 - both of which have a crystalline beauty and a more direct compactness.

Here a two London performances to offer two different views: one from June 2000 on the Klais organ in St John ‘s Smith Square, the other from June 1997 from the Hammersmith Organ Festival at St Paul’s, Hammersmith. Its' always interesting to compare how pieces change according to different settings... and how the settings and instruments make their own suggestions to the player.