Luisa Domingo plays Hindemith - Harp Sonata


Hindemith wrote his Harp Sonata in Switzerland in 1939, while en route to the United States, for the Italian harpist Clelia Gatti-Aldrovandi. In its three short movements, Hindemith -- who had a natural understanding of nearly every musical instrument -- masterfully encapsulated the spirit of the harp: its contrapuntal and harmonic independence, and its heritage as one of the oldest musical instruments.
The first movement, marked "Moderately fast," opens with an imperious chordal gesture that is both declamatory in its rhetoric and archaic in its modal harmony. The full range of the instrument is called upon in this resourcefully written sonata form movement, the character of which is noble and detached. The subsequent scherzo, marked "Lively," exploits the harp's capacity for quick filigree and lightness of texture. In the last movement, "Lied," Hindemith uses a nostalgic poem by the nineteenth century poet Hölty to create a literal "song" without words. The poem relates a dying harpist's last wish: that, after his death, his harp be placed behind the church altar as a memorial, where "at sunset" ("im Abendrot") it will sound, seemingly of its own accord -- much like the Aeolian harps of antiquity. In this finale, the noble archaism of the music takes on a sad and bittersweet quality that is all the more satisfying for its ingenuousness.
Source: Mark Satola, Rovi