Kleine Kammermusik Op.24 No.2 (1923)

Lustig: mässig schnelle Viertel (Cheerful: moderately quick)

Walzer: durchweg sehr leise (Waltz: very quiet throughout)

Ruhig und einfach (Peaceful and simple)

Schnelle Viertel (Quick) – Sehr lebhaft (Very lively)

Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik (Little Chamber Music) is a classic of the 20th-century wind quintet repertoire. Very much of the 1920s and as close as Hindemith came to the Parisian Groupe des Six, it avoids profundity of thought and emotion to indulge instead in harmonic wit, rhythmic vitality and instrumental virtuosity. The wind players of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, for whom it was written, must have been delighted to be presented with a score which is not only entertaining for the ensemble asa whole but also rewarding for the individual instrumentalist. If the opening movement favours the clarinet, oboe and flute (in that order) with the lively main theme and the same three instruments (in a different order) with a rather more lyrical second idea, it compensates the bassoon with a brief cadenza in the middle and a nostalgic allusion to the second theme in the closing bars. Having had little share of the melodic interest so far, the horn introduces the second of two waltz tunes in the next movement, which ends with another short bassoon soliloquy. The middle section of the third movement is particularly interesting from a textural point of view: the expressive opening theme is converted into a march for oboe accompanied by quietly staccato figuration on flute, clarinet and horn, the bassoon being held in reserve for when it joins the oboe two or three octaves below. A short introductory movement featuring brief cadenzas for each instrument leads directly into the Sehr lebhaft finale, which is an ensemble piece of considerable rhythmic and contrapuntal ingenuity.