Ludus Tonalis or the play of tones, along with his three piano sonatas, are the very best of his piano music. Hindemith's music represents the summation of the whole history of Western music and he achieved what no other composer did: to create a system of acoustic tonality using the 12 tones of the chromatic scale. Why should that be when he was considered one of the major figures of 20th century music during his lifetime. Hindemith, since his death in 1963,has been such an undervalued composer. The sound is good, and while I am unsure this would be a top choice for Ludus Tonalis it is a recommendable version, and the coupling is excellent. And here Berezovsky's playing achieves the kind of finger-twisting, fiery brilliance and, yes, wit one could hope for. The suite is a rugged, rhythmically swaggering mixture of jazz and dissonant, desiccated neo-classical modernism - not Hindemith's best work but a very enjoyable one. The Suite "1922", however, is indeed as close to perfect as one could hope. This is by no means a bad version, but it just lacks that last degree of fantasy and spirit to make it perfect. Still, there seems to be a degree of freedom missing despite the formal character of the music there is room for - indeed the music needs - a little more freedom and feistiness, more sharply etched rhythmic profilers and, yes, just a little more variation. He also achieves some coloration and variations in texture, and is beautiful in the more reflective passages. There is no doubt that Boris Berezovsky is up for the technical challenges, and he brings with him his characteristic virtuoso brilliance in some of the sections he also obtains magnificent effects making the music transcend its formal bounds and actually soar. It is a densely contrapuntal masterpiece that risks sounding unvariegated unless the pianist manage to imbue the fugues with some individuality - but this has to be achieved without taking too many liberties with the printed score (although there are examples of performers who have taken quite some liberties and achieved brilliant effects). Although it is an utterly remarkable work, it is not an easy one to come to terms with (not to play either, one suspects). Hindemith's Ludus Tonalis has received some excellent recordings, but it would be an exaggeration to call it "popular".
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