The second volume of Hindemith's music for cello and piano moves from the early works of Volume I to the mature composer of 1938-48. Julius Berger and Siegfried Mauser play the late Cello Sonata, two sets of small pieces and a set of variations on an American folk song, completing their Wergo survey of this repertoire.

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), the German composer, first drew public attention as a violist, in the Amar Quartet among others, and many of his works were written for his own concerts. The number of pieces for cello is therefore a little surprising, but Hindemith was always surrounded by cellists, in private life and among friendly colleagues, who played his music. The works on this disc date from the years after he left Germany, first for Switzerland and then for the United States, where he became a citizen in 1946. The recordings were made in Studio 3 of the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich on 21 and 22 November 1988 and 13 June 1989, in co-production with the radio, with Torsten Schreier as recording supervisor.

The Sonata for Violoncello and Piano of 1948 is the largest work here, in three movements: a Pastorale, a moderately fast movement and a closing Passacaglia, the longest of the three. The Drei leichte Stücke of 1938 are short pieces in three movements, fast, slow and lively, and the Kleine Sonate of 1942 is similarly compact, with a slow final movement. A Frog He Went A-Courting, from 1941, is a set of variations on the old English and American folk song, the shortest form on the disc and the only one built on borrowed material.

In Hindemith's catalogue the works with cello range from the solo sonata to a concerto with large orchestra. This disc covers the duo repertoire of his later years, while Volume I holds the works from 1917-21, so together the two discs give the complete music for cello and piano.

CD, Wergo WER 60145-50, released in 1990, in the Edition Paul Hindemith. Total time 49'17.