HOFMANN: Violin Concertos

Hugh, Tim, McAslan, Lorraine, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Ward, Nicholas

8.554233

Hofmann wrote at least eight concertos for violin, a concerto for violin and violoncello and a number of concertinos with important violin solos. It is more than likely that most if not all of these works were composed for his own use although their inclusion in contemporary thematic catalogues shows that Hofmann was not averse to their wider distribution, The Concerto in B flat major was advertised in Supplement VI (1771) of the Breitkopf Catalogue and probably dates from the late 1760s. Only two complete copies of the concerto survive along with the solo part of a third which contains an interesting variant reading in the finale. The qualities which Hiller and Nicolai praised in Hofmann's violin writing are strongly in evidence in this work. The solo writing is intensely lyrical, particularly in the beautiful second movement, and it is technically and musically demanding without stooping to empty showmanship. The recapitulatory function of the third ritomello in the finale is very modem and shows Hofmann beginning to break with the older tradition of beginning the recapitulation with the solo instrument. • The Concerto for Violin and Violoncello, like so many of the composer's works, survives in a single copy, in this case, a set of manuscript performing parts which are now preserved in the archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. With no secondary sources and a lack of corroborative contemporary catalogue references the case for authenticating this work has to be argued largely on the grounds of stylistic evidence and the fact that Hofmann was also an important composer of cello concertos.

CD

6.10.1998

636943423325