L. Hofmann Concertos
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Leopold Hofmann
Label: Naxos
Magazine Review Date: 3/1999
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 60
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 554233
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Concerto for Violin and Strings |
Leopold Hofmann, Composer
Leopold Hofmann, Composer Lorraine McAslan, Violin Nicholas Ward, Conductor Northern Sinfonia |
| Concerto for Violin, Cello and Strings |
Leopold Hofmann, Composer
Leopold Hofmann, Composer Lorraine McAslan, Violin Nicholas Ward, Conductor Northern Chamber Orchestra Tim Hugh, Cello |
Author: Stanley Sadie
The Leopold Hofmann revival continues. This time, from a composer long represented on the Gramophone Database only by a concerto that masqueraded for a time as Haydn’s (Hob VIIf:D1), we have violin concertos, again admirably edited and presented by the New Zealand scholar Allan Badley. Badley has done well to revive these Viennese concertos, probably from the 1760s, which give, as little else does, a context for the early violin concertos of Haydn (which in style they resemble) and Mozart. They are galant works, with quite florid solo parts and elaborate lines, a leisurely harmonic pace and a good deal of sequence, but they are shapely and effective music, with a good deal of tenderness in the slow movements – try the Adagio of the B flat work, or the Andante of the one in A – and also wit: the finale of the B flat Concerto is especially ingenious and beguiling. Then there is the double concerto, for violin and cello, which has much attractive dialogue and duetting, rather in the manner of the Mozart violin-viola Sinfonia concertante (although of course on a different level). The Adagio here is also particularly eloquent.
The performers do an excellent job, with clean, perfectly tuned and expressive violin playing from the silver-toned Lorraine McAslan, and of course ample virtuosity. Tim Hugh, as on the earlier disc of cello concertos (Naxos, A/98), plays equally securely and with a keen sense of style. I had been going to say that I thought the cadenzas rather too long, and too schematic; but it turns out that some of them, at least, date from Hofmann’s time and may be his own, so perhaps it is only my idea of what constitutes a good cadenza that needs reconsideration. Tempos are well chosen by Nicholas Ward who obtains spruce accompaniments from the Northern Chamber Orchestra.'
The performers do an excellent job, with clean, perfectly tuned and expressive violin playing from the silver-toned Lorraine McAslan, and of course ample virtuosity. Tim Hugh, as on the earlier disc of cello concertos (Naxos, A/98), plays equally securely and with a keen sense of style. I had been going to say that I thought the cadenzas rather too long, and too schematic; but it turns out that some of them, at least, date from Hofmann’s time and may be his own, so perhaps it is only my idea of what constitutes a good cadenza that needs reconsideration. Tempos are well chosen by Nicholas Ward who obtains spruce accompaniments from the Northern Chamber Orchestra.'
L. Hofmann Concertos
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