The brainchild of pianist Alexander Melnikov, this features five of the 30 or so sonatas for instruments and piano that Paul Hindemith wrote over the course of his long career. The selection covers the years 1935 to 1948, during which Hindemith left Nazi Germany for the US, and includes such masterpieces as the 1939 Trumpet Sonata, a bitter meditation on the outbreak of the second world war, and the Trombone Sonata of 1941, which nostalgically evokes the lost razzle of the Weimar republic. Melnikov proves to be the perfect chamber musician, knowing exactly when to assert himself and when to let his colleagues have the limelight. His regular recital partner Isabelle Faust is exquisite in the reflective 1935 Violin Sonata, and there are superb contributions from cellist Alexander Rudin and horn player Teunis van der Zwart. The real stars, though, are athletic trombonist Gérard Costes, and trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts, who combines lyrical warmth with an intensity that is often breathtaking.
