Hindemith String Quartets - Thoughts? Recommendations?

[JSngry]

Now I'm interested. But complete sets are not that many, and mostly by groups with whom I'm not really familiar. Which means nothing of course...so ...anybody?

[Rooster_Ties]

My only frame of reference — the only Hindemith Quartets I’ve ever heard or owned — is the Danish Quartet’s complete set on CPO (rec. 1995-96).

But I have to confess, I’ll bet I’ve only spun it a handful of times in the last 15 years (and I probably picked it up 20 yrs ago).

Playlist of the entire thing:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWCKjgcrYR3PVp7Y9xDuV1oRp0xeAZ9ix&si=1i-E-nAjMDyH22ME

 

Edited July 16 by Rooster_Ties

[T.D.]

I like these quartets (and Hindemith, despite his "dry" reputation). Have owned the Danish Q set on cpo for a long time and never felt a need to consider alternatives. As far as I can recall it was viewed favorably on classical forums, but I'm a little out of touch and don't know if other sets have been released recently.

Edited July 16 by T.D.

[T.D.]

Whoa! Jim, there's a Juilliard set on Wergo (?!) I didn't even know about that one...seems to be available for not much more than the Naxos/Amar.

Here are a couple of review links fwiw:

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/Apr/Hindemith_quartets_8503290.htm#

HINDEMITH Complete String Quartets - WERGO WER69602 [SG] Classical Music Reviews: August 2017 - MusicWeb-International

Edited July 16 by T.D.

[JSngry]

Thanks!

The Juilliard set (made by a post-Mann group);gets a strong review, as did the Amar quartet, which seems to emphasize slower than usual tempos that highlight color and texture.

I like edge but I also like color.

So I'm gonna marinate this for a while. Any further input from our community is certainly welcome!

[Rooster_Ties]

3 hours ago, T.D. said:

I like these quartets (and Hindemith, despite his "dry" reputation).

It’s funny… I always genuinely love listening to Hindemith — yet I can’t cite very many specific works of his that I specifically love.

I’ve got a ton of his stuff too, nearly all on CPO (20 years ago I found all three of those unified orchestral CPO mini-box-sets for 50% off list price, brand new and sealed).

Just counted, I’ve got a total 26 discs of Hindemith — and the only composers I have more of, are Ives and Henze… and then also Grieg (my wife’s favorite composer).

But, strangely, I don’t have more  than a handful of specific works by Hindemith that are ‘favorites’.  More so, I have specific CD’s of his that overall have a several works that happen to have the same timbres — and degrees of contrapuntal-ism — that I always remember really suit my fancy.

Perhaps his ‘dry’ reputation plays into this.

If I was giving numeric scores, it’s like ALL of it is a 7/10 minimum — but practically none of it is over 8/10 either.

It’s all consistently VERY good, but little of it is quite ‘great’ (but oh so very close).

 

Edited July 16 by Rooster_Ties

[T.D.]

20 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

It’s funny… I always genuinely love listening to Hindemith — yet I can’t cite very many specific works of his that I specifically love.

I’ve got a ton of his stuff too, nearly all on CPO (20 years ago I found all three of those unified orchestral CPO mini-box-sets for 50% off list price, brand new and sealed).

Just counted, I’ve got a total 26 discs of Hindemith — and the only composers I have more of, are Ives and Henze… and then also Grieg (my wife’s favorite composer).

But, strangely, I don’t have more  than a handful of specific works by Hindemith that are ‘favorites’.  More so, I have specific CD’s of his that overall have a several works that happen to have the same timbres — and degrees of contrapuntal-ism — that I always remember really suit my fancy.

Perhaps his ‘dry’ reputation plays into this.

If I was giving numeric scores, it’s like ALL of it is a 7/10 minimum — but practically none of it is over 8/10 either.

It’s all consistently VERY good, but little of it is quite ‘great’ (but oh so very close).

 

That's a pretty good assessment. Counterpoint is a reason I like Hindemith.

A regular on a classical forum I visit is a big Hindemith enthusiast and raves about his opera Cardillac. I recall not digging the Mathis der Maler (his famous opera) excerpts I heard, so never pursued Cardillac.

[JSngry]

JSQ on Wergo it is.

WERGO!!!!+

[mikeweil]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

JSQ on Wergo it is.

WERGO!!!!+

I'm not surprised, as Wergo is the label of his publisher, Schott. All, really all of his works were published by Schott. A lot of works were issued on Wergo in reference recordings.

I happen to be friends with two people working there, and one of them once invited me to a tour through their cabinets with autographs, memorabilia and the like - very nice. 

[JSngry]

Ah, publishing!

I know Wergo as a mostly experimental/modern label, so it was a bit of a (pleasant) surprise to see this item there 

Then again. the releases of theirs that I have are always quality on every front. So yeah!

[mikeweil]

On 7/17/2025 at 6:38 PM, JSngry said:

Then again. the releases of theirs that I have are always quality on every front. So yeah!

All the Hindemith recordings on Wergo I have are excellent. I especially like the complete piano music series played by Siegfried Mauser on five CDs. Mauser was accused of sexual harassment later on and spent 20 months in prison, which ended his career, but these recordings are excellently played.

Edited July 19 by mikeweil

[Olie Brice]

It's only one quartet (the 4th) not a set, but the Zehetmair quartet recording is stunning. They are in some ways the contemporary equivalent of the classic era Juilliard quartet - fiercely individual and orginal, astonishingly virtuosic and treat modern and classical repertoire as the same sort of material.

[JSngry]

3 hours ago, Olie Brice said:

It's only one quartet (the 4th) not a set, but the Zehetmair quartet recording is stunning. They are in some ways the contemporary equivalent of the classic era Juilliard quartet - fiercely individual and orginal, astonishingly virtuosic and treat modern and classical repertoire as the same sort of material.

Thanks for the tip. I see this recording is on ECM, and I like a lot of the classical releases they've done. This one is paired with Bartok #5, so I'm looking forward to getting it in!

Found a decent enough deal on Discogs and it's on the way.

Again, thanks!