Alexander Melnikov - Paul Hindemith: Sonatas for... (2015)

If there is a Cinderella among Hindemith’s three dozen(ish) sonatas, it’s not that for double bass, tuba, or even the Canonic Sonatina for two flutes, but the Sonata for althorn (1943). A tenor instrument, known in the US as the alto horn, it is so rare that Hindemith accepted his sonata could be played on the horn or alto saxophone. It is a delightful work for a delightful instrument, beautifully rendered here.

Melnikov’s role parallels that of Glenn Gould but his accounts are less wayward than the Canadian’s, his soloists generally stronger. Indeed, in most of the sonatas, the primary competition comes from one-off recordings (now that Ensemble Villa Musica’s almost-complete sonata set, with pianist Kalle Randalu, is unavailable). On BIS, Roland Pöntinen is accompanist for three rival accounts. In the 1935 Violin Sonata, Wallin may now have been overtaken by Zimmermann, Becker-Bender and now Isabelle Faust but choice will depend primarily on couplings since the margins between these contenders is so fine.

So, too, with the others, though Wendy Warner remains peerless in the Cello Sonata despite a fine challenger here from Rudin. I would not want to be without Lindberg’s Trombone Sonata, though BIS’s sound is a tad over-resonant. Costes’s superb interpretation is the finest since Antonsen’s, accompanied by Sawallisch (EMI – sadly nla), and certainly a match for Laubin’s. I prefer Costes to Tine Thing Helseth’s driven account with Kathryn Stott, in a comparatively fierce recording. In short then, this is a magnificent disc, with leading or contending versions of all the works in terrific, beautifully balanced Harmonia Mundi sound. Let’s hope Melnikov & Co return to record some more.

Review by Guy Rickards, Gramophone

Ever practical in his methods, Paul Hindemith composed over 30 sonatas for various instruments, which, in addition to his theoretical concerns, reflected a utilitarian aspect of his work, even though they weren't intended as Gebrauchsmusik. This 2015 album from Harmonia Mundi offers five sonatas, composed between 1935 and 1948, which have become standard repertoire for students and are usually heard in recitals, though much less frequently on commercial recordings. The sonatas for alto horn, violoncello, trombone, violin, and trumpet make a balanced program, and the consistency of Hindemith's chromatic yet tonal music makes the album approachable, even though the pieces at times may seem a little dry and cerebral. Alto hornist Teunis van der Zwart, cellist Alexander Rudin, trombonist Gérard Costes, violinist Isabelle Faust, and trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts are the featured artists and they are extremely polished in their playing, while virtuoso pianist Alexander Melnikov provides something greater than mere accompaniment in these energetic and expressive performances. The reproduction is focused and noise-free, so every detail of this highly contrapuntal music is fully audible.

Review by Blair Sanderson, Allmusic.com

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 16. December 2015, 21:35

Alexander Melnikov / Hindemith - Sonatas

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GU70N Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:05.04 | 0 | 9378
2 | 2:05.04 | 3:30.06 | 9379 | 25134
3 | 5:35.10 | 2:04.08 | 25135 | 34442
4 | 7:39.18 | 4:00.12 | 34443 | 52454
5 | 11:39.30 | 6:34.22 | 52455 | 82026
6 | 18:13.52 | 6:16.24 | 82027 | 110250
7 | 24:30.01 | 8:42.57 | 110251 | 149457
8 | 33:12.58 | 2:54.59 | 149458 | 162566
9 | 36:07.42 | 3:11.67 | 162567 | 176958
10 | 39:19.34 | 2:10.42 | 176959 | 186750
11 | 41:30.01 | 2:52.50 | 186751 | 199700
12 | 44:22.51 | 3:57.39 | 199701 | 217514
13 | 48:20.15 | 6:34.22 | 217515 | 247086
14 | 54:54.37 | 5:22.45 | 247087 | 271281
15 | 60:17.07 | 2:19.12 | 271282 | 281718
16 | 62:36.19 | 8:31.39 | 281719 | 320082


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\temp\HMC905271 - Hindemith - Sonatas\Hindemith - Sonatas.wav

Peak level 93.9 %
Extraction speed 2.3 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC CD1B4C76
Copy CRC CD1B4C76
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [FF2DCC73] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 6) [498B483F] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 6) [37C53375] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [41C866A1] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [75FFFEAA] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [0D002E4F] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [86FCCB7F] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [906F1637] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [71E215B4] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [ADC05BF0] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [A7C5A56A] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [BFB300CD] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [B6513939] (AR v2)
Track 14 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [EACA126D] (AR v2)
Track 15 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [FB6ADD1D] (AR v2)
Track 16 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [66AF169B] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

==== Log checksum 8440B1476FE7054C3B48319E22737152F7BDF93AFB9B7CEAF470F40D1056A38A ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-11-30 21:21:42

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Alexander Melnikov, Alexander Rudin / Hindemith - Sonatas (1-3)
Alexander Melnikov, Gérard Costes / Hindemith - Sonatas (4-7)
Alexander Melnikov, Isabelle Faust / Hindemith - Sonatas (8-9)
Alexander Melnikov, Jeroen Berwaerts / Hindemith - Sonatas (10-12)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -0.55 dB -18.08 dB 6:34 05-Sonata for Violoncello and Piano - I. Pastorale
DR14 -0.55 dB -19.15 dB 6:16 06-Sonata for Violoncello and Piano : II. Moderately fast - Slow - Tempo I
DR11 -0.55 dB -15.35 dB 8:43 07-Sonata for Violoncello and Piano - III. Passacaglia
DR12 -0.55 dB -16.04 dB 2:55 08-Sonata for Trombone and Piano - I. Allegro moderato maestoso
DR13 -6.99 dB -24.65 dB 3:12 09-Sonata for Trombone and Piano - II. Allegretto grazioso
DR11 -0.55 dB -15.24 dB 2:11 10-Sonata for Trombone and Piano - III. Lied des Raufbolds
DR11 -0.55 dB -15.53 dB 2:53 11-Sonata for Trombone and Piano - IV. Allegro moderato maestoso
DR14 -4.93 dB -25.33 dB 3:58 12-Sonata for Violin and Piano - I. Ruhig bewegt
DR15 -2.14 dB -22.21 dB 6:34 13-Sonata for Violin and Piano - II. Langsam - Sehr lebhaft - Langsam - Wieder l…
DR11 -0.55 dB -15.82 dB 5:23 14-Sonata for Trumpet and Piano - I. Mit Kraft
DR12 -4.25 dB -24.25 dB 2:19 15-Sonata for Trumpet and Piano - II. Mässig bewegt - Lebhaft - Wie zuerst
DR12 -0.55 dB -18.96 dB 8:32 16-Sonata for Trumpet and Piano - III. Trauermusik
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 12
Official DR value: DR12

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 563 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Alexander Melnikov, Teunis van der Zwart / Hindemith - Sonatas
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR11 -8.75 dB -24.82 dB 2:05 01-Sonata for Althorn and Piano - I. Ruhig bewegt
DR13 -0.55 dB -18.68 dB 3:30 02-Sonata for Althorn and Piano - II. Lebhaft
DR12 -1.19 dB -20.62 dB 2:04 03-Sonata for Althorn and Piano - III. Sehr langsam
DR13 -0.55 dB -19.00 dB 4:00 04-Sonata for Althorn and Piano - IV. Das Posthorn
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 4
Official DR value: DR12

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 563 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================