Britten and Hindemith make surprising simpatico disc-mates, with distinct yet complimentary styles that make one wonder why they’re not partnered more often on recordings. This disc pairs oboe music by both men, performed by Jared Hauser, principal of the Orlando (Florida) Philharmonic Orchestra.
The booklet-notes posit that Britten’s 1936 Temporal Variations is a response to the rise of Nazi Germany. If so, it’s a rather subtle and interior response, but this is a characteristic, well crafted work with a wistful repeated-note motif that provides fertile ground for the ensuing variations. The jagged, angular “Oration” leads to a playful March, yet the mood throughout is darkly lyrical and gently ironic. Hauser’s subtle, refined style is well suited to this music, with the sad, evocative Chorale – the heart of the piece – beautifully played, Hauser conveying the quiet, enigmatic expression. There’s  a nostalgic waltz and a lively Polka yet the prevailing melancholy never quite lifts, particularly in the “Resolution” finale, where the mood turns tragic, the keening oboe set against the piano’s dirge-like bass notes.
Much better known is Britten’s Phantasy Quartet, his Op 2, written for celebrated English oboist Leon Goossens in 1931. Here again, with the oboe primus inter pares, Hauser is a sensitive, elegant soloist, fully at home with the gentle pastoral nostalgia. The sting-players are reticent to the point of almost disappearing at times but it suites Hauser’s mellow, intimate approach even if the performance at times seems low-key and a bit sleepy.
Hauser does better in the whimsical Two Insect Pieces, and especially in the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid. This solo showpiece for oboe – is there a greater one? – elicits a wider range of colours and dynamics from Hauser who catches the playful, capricious shifts, his feline style at home in the interior reflection of “Narcissus” and the elliptical “Arethusa”. The soloist gracefully switches instruments for Hindemith’s Sonata for English Horn and Piano. Written shortly after the German composer’s arrival in the US, this work is more directly emotional ad less grey and astringent that many if his droll, note-spinning sonatas. Set in six short, contrasting sections, a thoughtful expression prevails. Hauser’s tempi lean towards the slow side, which prevents the subtler contrasts from registering, but he is in sympathy with the music’s introspective nature.
Like the Phantasy Quartet, Hindemith’s Oboe Sonata was written for Leon Goossens, with a vivacious (by Hindemith’s standard) first movement and a more varied second section. In the slow introduction to the second movement, Hauser’s slender tone doesn’t explore a very wide range of colour, but the lively final section goes well enough and these are sensitive and musicianly performances well recorded with the playing of the excellent pianist Nicholas Roth on the same level as Hauser.

Temporal Fantasies of Britten and Hindemith

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