Josef Hofmann, Vol. 2
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johannes Brahms, Moritz Moszkowski, Anton (Grigor'yevich) Rubinstein, Fryderyk Chopin, Josef (Casimir) Hofmann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergey Rachmaninov
Label: Audio
Magazine Review Date: 5/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 153
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: VAIA1020

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Academic Festival Overture |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Curtis Institute Student Orchestra Fritz Reiner, Conductor Johannes Brahms, Composer |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 |
Anton (Grigor'yevich) Rubinstein, Composer
Anton (Grigor'yevich) Rubinstein, Composer Curtis Institute Student Orchestra Fritz Reiner, Conductor Josef Hofmann, Piano |
(4) Ballades, Movement: No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Nocturnes, Movement: No. 2 in E flat, Op. 9/2 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Nocturnes, Movement: No. 5 in F sharp, Op. 15/2 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Waltzes, Movement: No. 5 in A flat, Op. 42 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Waltzes, Movement: No. 6 in D flat, Op. 64/1 (Minute) |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
(27) Etudes, Movement: G flat, 'Butterfly's Wings', Op. 25/9 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Berceuse |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Chromaticon |
Josef (Casimir) Hofmann, Composer
Curtis Institute Student Orchestra Fritz Reiner, Conductor Josef (Casimir) Hofmann, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
(48) Songs without Words, Movement: No. 4, Presto in C, 'Spinnerlied: The Bee's Wedding' |
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
(24) Preludes, Movement: G minor, Op. 23/5 |
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Josef Hofmann, Piano Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer |
(Die) Ruinen von Athen, Movement: Turkish March |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Josef Hofmann, Piano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Caprice espagnole |
Moritz Moszkowski, Composer
Josef Hofmann, Piano Moritz Moszkowski, Composer |
Nocturnes, Movement: No. 13 in C minor, Op. 48/1 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Mazurkas (Complete), Movement: No. 24 in C, Op. 33/3 (1837-38) |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Waltzes, Movement: No. 2 in A flat, Op. 34/1 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Josef Hofmann, Piano |
Author: Lionel Salter
After the Academic Festival Overture there is a happily worded tribute to the pianist from Walter Damrosch, and then Reiner takes up the baton in a performance (reasonably recorded) of Rubinstein's Fourth Concerto—an unabashedly romantic work, if rather conventional in its material—which the audience cannot refrain from applauding boisterously after the first movement. Hofmann was noted for the colour, sparklingly clear virtuosity, refined tonal nuance and overall concept of his playing; and some of the pieces here admirably display those qualities—variety of colour, plus great vigour, in Chopin's A flat Ballade, a gently elegant rubato in the E flat Nocturne, great delicacy in the Op. 42 A flat Waltz. And of particular interest is the unexpected attention he focuses on inner counterpoints, notably in the Chopin Berceuse and Rachmaninov's G minor Prelude. But it has to be said that before an audience—which here irritatingly supplies a non-stop obbligato of coughing—Hofmann was tempted not only to overdo speeds (e.g. in the Minute Waltz) but, regrettably, to indulge in barnstorming (the Beethoven ''Turkish March'') and eccentricities (banged-out basses in the ''Butterfly'' Etude, a gratuitous final thump to the ''Minute'' Waltz, a 15-fold bell-like booming A flat at the end of the Berceuse).
New to this issue is a group of pieces, including another version of Chopin's Andante spianato e Grande Polonaise as well as a further performance of his own Chromaticon, taken from his penultimate New York appearance in 1945: the recording is shallower and more forward than before, and there is some noise from the original acetates. Here Hofmann, in Chopin's C minor Nocturne, pushes rubato to its limits, but his C major Mazurka has a fine rhythmic lift.'
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