{"product_id":"hindemith-ploner-musiktag","title":"Hindemith: Ploner Musiktag","description":"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eHINDEMITH \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003ePlöner Musiktag \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Jobst Liebrecht, cond; Dietrich Henschel (bar); David Reibel (speaker); RSO Berlin; Marzahn-Hellersdorf Youth SO; Ens of the Hans Werner Henze Music School; Berlin R Children’s Ch and other children’s and youth ch \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e WERGO WER 6728 2 (71:36 \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eText and Translation) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eMorgenmusik. Tafelmusik. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003eKantate\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003e. Abendkonzert. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eOn June 20, 1932, Hindemith spent the day at a school in Plön, a small town between Hamburg and Kiel. The school specialized in music, and he had written a series of pieces for the students to learn and play. Thus: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eA Day of Music at Plön\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e. The day opened with \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eMorning Music\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, a complex set for brass instruments. Much of the day was spent rehearsing individuals and ensembles. For a boy who could play only the xylophone, Hindemith wrote a part, on the spot; for three boys who couldn’t play any instrument, he wrote recorder trios and had them trained to play the instrument. During breaks between courses of midday dinner, the orchestral \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eTable Music\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e was played. In the afternoon, a cantata (“Admonition to Youth to Apply Themselves to Music”) for two soloists, three choruses, and orchestra which urges children to learn music was sung, spoken (a melodrama), and played. Hindemith was renowned for his sense of humor; the cantata is supposedly mostly tongue in cheek, but any wit therein doesn’t translate—the texts seem deadly serious, almost boarding-school punitive in attitude. The \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eEvening Concert\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, a 35-minute series of orchestral, ensemble, and instrumental works, closed the day. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe point of it all was performing, not creating music for the ages to be heard by the general public or even the Serious Record Collector. So there seems little point in evaluating the music (by what standards?) or the performances (measured against whom?). While parts of \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eTable Music\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e have a light touch, most of the Plön music is in Hindemith’s heavy, neobaroque style of the early 1930s. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eMorgenmusik\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e and sections of \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAbendkonzert\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e have been recorded before, but I have not previously encountered the cantata. This seems to be the first recording of the complete \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePlöner Musiktag. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eA similar day took place at Montepulciano, Italy, in August of 1980, with local school children premiering Hans Werner Henze’s opera \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePollicino.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e Jobst Liebrecht led another performance and a recording in December 1980, sung and played by Berlin school children (\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e 28:1). Liebrecht founded the Marzahn-Hellersdorf Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2005 and performed \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePlöner Musiktag\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e in 2008, at which time the music school was named after Henze. The booklet lists every performer—258 of them, by my count—but does not tell us who (or which ensemble) performs what. One must assume that all mix into most of the works; for example, there are not enough brass players in any one of the ensembles to fill out \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eMorning Music\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e. This studio recording documents that day in 1932 and a slice of Hindemith’s oeuvre, which Wergo is slowly producing \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ein toto\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e—at least the majority of it that is owned by Schott Music \u0026amp; Media, the label’s parent company. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: James H. North \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Wergo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49606595805464,"sku":"4010228672824","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1807848.jpg?v=1777920759","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/hindemith-ploner-musiktag","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}