Description

JOSEF HOFMANN (PODGORZE, KRAKOW, POLAND, 20-01-1876 – LOS ANGELES, USA, 16-02-1957)

 

 

 

 

He was born outside Kraków, Poland, to music parents. His father was Kazimierz Hofmann, who was a noted composer, conductor of the Kraków theatre, and professor of piano and harmony at the Warsaw Conservatory; his mother was the singer Matylda Pindelska, who specialized in light opera. Young Josef was a child prodigy, making his recital debut in Warsaw at age 5. In 1886, he played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic, and in London performed the same work for the Royal Philharmonic Society. His tour through the US in 1887 and 1888 (at age 10-11) meant 80 concerts, with performances 4 times a week. The tour was cancelled by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, citing his fragile health. A private patron offered Hofmann $50,000 (approx. $1.2 million in today’s money) to stay off the performing stage until he was 18. This respite enabled him to study with the pianist and composer Moritz Moszkowski in Berlin, but then began two years of study with his greatest teacher. This someone who also had been an exploited child prodigy and was, by then, considered the greatest living pianist, Anton Rubinstein. He was the only private pupil of Anton Rubinstein, was a prolific composer, before moving to the US during WWI. He was the first head of the piano department at the Curtis Institute of Music from its founding and was director of Curtis from 1927-1938. He left Curtis enmeshed in financial and administrative disputes and slowly faded from the music scene, giving his last Carnegie Hall recital in 1946, 60 years after his recital debut at Carnegie. Hofmann was first recorded at age 10 by Thomas Edison and his first commercial recordings came out in Berin in 1903. His recordings, even from this early time, are notes for their astounding technique having a clarity and pureness of tone that has rarely, if ever, matched. Hofmann made his fame on his performances of Chopin and Liszt and in this recording of the Chopin Ballade No. 4, Op. 52, closes with a bravura ending that moves Chopin out of the precious and into the powerful.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1. Beethoven-Rubinstein Turkish March Brunswick 15057 10505-10506 4271923 New York
2. Chopin Nocturne in F sharp minor, Op. 15 No. 2 Brunswick 50044 X10420 4 19 1923 New York
3. Chopin Polonaise in A major, Military Brunswick 15098 10331-10336 4 10 1923 New York
4. Chopin Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20, abbreviated Brunswick 50044 X10454-X10455 4 23 1923 New York
5. Chopin Waltz in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 Brunswick 15057 10405 4 18 1923 New York
6. Chopin-Liszt Chant Polonais, ‘My Joys’ Brunswick 50045 X10503 4 27 1923 New York
7. Gluck-Brahms Gavotte Brunswick 15046 10106-10108 3 13 1923 New York
8. Hofmann Nocturne form Mignonettes Brunswick 15053 10368-10369 4 12 1923 New York
9. Liszt Concert Study No. 1, Waldesrauschen Brunswick 15046 10104-10105 3 13 1923 New York
10. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 Brunswick 50023, 50023, X9431, X9434 approximately Dec. 1922 New York
11. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, abbreviated version Brunswick Unpubl., X10365-X10367 4 12 1923 New York
12. Liszt Paganini Etude No. 3 in A flat minor, La campanella Brunswick Unpubl., X10571 5 4 1923 New York
13. Rachmaninov Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2 Brunswick 15053 10433 4 20 1923 New York
14. Rachmaninov Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No. 5 Brunswick 50045 X10434 4 20 1923 New York
15. Rubinstein Melody in F Brunswick 15098 10436 4 20 1923 New York
16. Scarlatti-Tausig Pastorale and Capriccio Brunswick 50035 X10352-X10354 4 11 1923 New York
17. Wagner-Brassin Magic Fire Music Brunswick 50035 X10502 4 27 1923 New York