Description

ALFRED HOEHN (OBERELLEN, GERSTUNGEN, GERMANY, 20 OCTOBER 1887 – KÖNIGSTEIN IM TAUNUS, GERMANY, 2 AUGUST 1945)

Born in Oberellen, Hoehn was the son of a teacher and organist. He was supported by the pianist Eugen d’Albert, the conductor Fritz Steinbach, Kapellmeister of the Meiningen Court Orchestra, and Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, who supported his musical studies. Hoehn learned the basics of piano playing from his father and went to Frankfurt in 1900, where he became a pupil at the Hoch Conservatory at the same time as attending a Realgymnasium. He received his pianistic education from Lazzaro Uzielli, a pupil of Clara Schumann. After completing his piano studies in 1908, he studied with Fritz Steinbach, who had in the meantime accepted the position of General Music Director in Cologne and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln there. He introduced Hoehn to the career of concert pianist in 1908. Besides that, Hoehn pursued studies with Eugen d’Albert and Ferruccio Busoni. After his European tour in 1909, Hoehn won the Anton Rubinstein Competition in St. Petersburg in 1910 in the presence of Arthur Rubinstein, who in his memoirs reported in detail about this competition and said that Hoehn actually deserved the 1st prize. Also in 1910 Hoehn was appointed court pianist by the Duke of Meiningen. As early as 1907 he was given a teaching position at the Hoch Conservatory by director Iwan Knorr, which he held until 1916 and then ended at his own request. In 1913 he took over a master class at the Conservatory in Strasbourg which was directed by Hans Pfitzner. In 1929 Hoehn again became a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory and after its partial transformation into the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, he was professor and head of the master class in 1938. In the same function he had already been active since 1933 at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar as successor of Bruno Hinze-Reinhold. He was a juror for the first three International Chopin Piano Competitions. Hoehn’s career was ended in the spring of 1940 by a stroke which he suffered during the rehearsal for the 2nd Piano Concerto by Brahms in the Gewandhaus (Leipzig). As a result, he was paralyzed and died after a long illness on August 2, 1945 in the hospital of Königstein im Taunus at the age of 57. Hoehn’s grave is located at the cemetery in Kronberg im Taunus, his last place of residence. His estate is kept in the Thüringisches Landesmusikarchiv.

TRACKLIST

1. (1. 2. 3.) Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 b-Moll op. 23 (Tchaikowsky) (Radio-Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, conductor: Wilhelm Buschkötter)
2. (4. 5. 6. Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 d-Moll op. 15 (Brahms) (Großes Berliner Funkorchester / Max Fiedler, RRG, Berlin, Haus des Rundfunks, 26 Oktober 1936)
3. (7. 8. 9.) Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 c-Moll op. 18 (Rachmaninoff) (Rundfunkorchester Frankfurt / Hans Rosbaud, RRG, Frankfurt, Großer Saal, 1. Juni 1937)