Symphony in B-flat for Band (Hindemith)

Symphony in B for Band was written by Paul Hindemith, an influential German composer known for writing music in a variety of genres, including orchestral, opera, chamber, ballet, vocal and many more. The piece was completed in 1951 and premiered on 5 April of that year by the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" with the composer conducting (Miles, et al 2010, 953).

Instrumentation

The Symphony is scored for:

The contrapuntal textures used by Hindemith throughout the symphony highlight many instruments individually. This writing takes advantage of the vast color palette that this combination of instruments offers (Sharp 2011, 212).

Critical reception

Richard Franko Goldman, a bandmaster himself and a music critic of the mid-20th century, called the piece "singularly dead". He states that composing for band is difficult because "the agglomeration of instruments is irrational and exasperating". He previously lamented that the piece falls "between the effort to be popular and obvious, and the intention to remain unsmiling and uncorrupted" (Goldman 1958, 127–28)

Performances

References

Further Reading

External links

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