Tag: Mathis Gothart

Symphony Mathis der Maler Composer: Paul Hindemith Conductor: Thomas Wilson Date: April 15, 2017 Contrary to what I initially thought, this piece was not by Gustav Mahler or even about Mahler (notice the absence of the "h" in the title). Instead, this symphony was an effective musical representation of an artist's work which itself had a hermit saint as its inspiration. Through the "behind the scenes" provided by the Philharmonic before playing the entire piece, I learned that Hindemith paid a lot of attention to the symmetry and mathematical balances in his music. From utilizing the golden ratio to palindromes to balanced and unbalanced movements, there was more to Hindemith symphony than met the ear. What was also interesting was the artist whose works were inspirations for this symphony (itself being part of a larger opera). Mathis Grunewald didn't have many works to his name, but the ones we do know about are certainly impactful. Just as an example, the piece included in this post was just one...