When I was 12, my Polish-born music teacher told me she knew Josef Hofmann, and if I studied, she would take me to play for him. That was a very good incentive, although I don't know if that was just a line to get me to practice. At 12, I practiced, but usually not what the teacher wanted me to practice. So I never met Hofmann!
Okay, okay I know! =) But i don't think i actually want to opposite it. I don't hate the song, I love it, but I said i didnt like the tempo. I don't want it be super slow or slow at all. I think I just want the resonance petal to be pressed which would obviously be very difficult with this song or maybe the recording is just not as clear, which would be totally understandable. =/ I have heard friend of mine play this before many times and I never had any objections-but it was live. =) Ya know?
@SpiffilyPeachy It is an impromptu. What do you expect? Glory? Dynamic, vibrance? It should be adventurous, light hearted at times, give some clarity and have a touch of romance in it. It is his attempt of the piece. He's playing it less virtuos than most pianists these they would play it. He's sacraficing romantism for a more clear melody. He's truly in love with the piece. It's a good case for studying piano techniques. I personally don't like this performance.
@Ianthe22 I am definitely ignorant about protocol and the history of music but I truly do appreciate your explanation. I think I just get a little exasperated and anxious when there is such a precise idea of sound I want to discover. I am happy to report that I have taken a class since then which has begun to broaden my intellect in that subject. I am also happy with that.
Cutner is fabulous .Sofronitsky, until I hear him in Beet and Chopin I wonder what his imagination was capable of!Sauer,Rosenthal.Lhev.I don't put sofr in that list.I think Hofmann changed by the time of the 1930's live perf we have .HisChopinvery direct here.His letters might reveal the conditions of studio and sound rec.likeBusoniwho says a lot about this. idea this was for posterity hadn't sunk in.Godowsky says dont judge him by da recordings.maybe it was ephemeral .not worth planningfor.
And don't forget that in the old days there was no editing. What you hear is what they played in one take. When you think of this and listen to some of this stuff it fairley makes your jaw drop.
I think Hofmann's version is in its own league. Most of his recordings were, despite the fact that many (from his prime especially, but even some from when he was an old alky lol) were on piano rolls and much of his phrasing and almost subliminal nuances are lost in translation.
Yes... People are oblivious of the fact that this was not recorded yesterday. Recording in their time was almost an unsurmountable feat. Imagine having to play piece completely in 4 min for instance....
His technique still astounds me, I like how he doesn't over do it, he truly knows how to make this piece beautiful without making it sound over exaggerated.
L'interprétation de Peter Schmalfuss est extraordinaire,c'est vrai,très peu de gens la connaissent, ou bien préfèrent vénérer les idoles.Vous exagérez,et pas un peu!! mais bravo pour votre avis, vous oubliez cependant Hugo Steurer et Josef Bulva(lequel a offert des Liszt sublimes)
Although this may be a bit fast,a bit harsh,and not slow and romantic as is the beautiful version with Iturbi-the playing shines through all of this,and is truly awesome! Bravo! TY.
Tempo a bit extra fast and performance is a bit mechanical, showing very little emotion. Played like a technical exercise with very sparing pedal oftentimes. About the only variation he shows is with the rhythm a few times where he pauses or slows down briefly.
"Chopin's rubato possessed an unshakeable emotional logic. It always justified itself by a strengthening or weakening melodic line, by exaggeration or affectation."
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
strange that the greatest pianist maybe ever recorded left some really awful examples of the no-nonsense approach to Chopin. Iturbi beats him here. Again though Hofmann is amazing elsewhere u will never hear voicings ,style and tone and a mechanism like his. EAT IT UP BITCHES!
u people need to be aware of various national and period schools. With romantic music alot can be aloud.If u heard AntonRub or Liszt you'd hear a personality as big as composer. This is Hofmann so shut up and just learn. His recs in teens different player than his perfect ones of 30's and 40's.Chopin would have recog these funny to our ears rubatos . The correctors made errors in the new style. Hear dePachmann,Suer Rosenthal others then u will know the truth!!!
Very nice version. it is alongside the best (i say alongside because this is the best ive heard in technique terms). This lacks the emotion others put into it BUT this is how Chopin would prefer it played and he would choose this over all others.
hoffman was a great pianist. It is known that he was very suspicious of 'modern' recording techniques and therefore played very much harsher and mechanically because he didnt think the audience would be able to hear suptle musical nuances...
He isn't really playing a "version", the extra trills are just added affectation - many performers do it. The only thing you might not find in all versions is the little extra Klindworth run toward the end of the cantabile (it's actually added as an option on the good ol' Schirmer edition. The only thing I really didn't agree with in his interpretation is galloping speed in the last 8 measures (marked "poco a poco piu tranquillo)!
technically brilliant but too mechanical for my tastes. It's not an etude, it's an impromptu. I like the extra flourish at 2:13 - is this in another score edition or was it an improv, anyone know?
Josef Hofmann was a pioneer in the development of the modern piano technique. He was a contemporary of Liszt and a wonderful pianist.
He believed in the greatest results with the least amount of strain in the approach to the piano. For that, pianists are to be thankful. He's awesome!
This is great! Breathtaking. It's like inhaling on the first two bass notes and exhaling on the last chord. I think if I put my mind to it, I can replicate all he does in this piece... This is not unattainable.
Yet just think of this - if you play like that in any competition, the audience and the jury will boo you off the stage.
the only right way to play it is the way chopin played it, everything else makes it wrong. Mackayde is right. we dont want those fucking emos fucking up classical music like they have done to rock (that fag singing your beautiful for instance) get a grip u fucking spaz' and stay the fuck away from classical music!
Estagon: Ya know, it is possible to like Classical and Rock equally. I think all forms of music have potential, even rap if they just stopped littering it w/ the 'N' word 'hoes' and so on. Like w/ art there is never going to be one definite form.
Get off your high horse. If you want technique, listen to Gould. The point of Chopin, and especially of a fantaisie, is to stimulate a certain mental state. He's blazing through those top notes like they're inconsequential and missing the point of the music. Sure, he has some fantastic muscle memory in those hands, but this music is supposed to communicate emotion.
itsnotnickxliu, I'm with you. You miss the beauty of each note when you just whiz through a piece. It has no feeling, no meaning. I just becomes an exercise, like Hanon. I want to hear every note.
Somehow, I think Hofmann has a better idea what the music is about. He was a professional who studied it for a living. Rachmaninoff himself had respect for the guy. Yet we mediocre musicians think we can criticize these great musicians as if we are experts who knew Chopin personally and think we can speak on his behalf.
mackayde, without feeling and emotion you simply have a metronome. Tick, tock, tick. If you only pursue the mechanics, then you are merely a technician, and not a musician.
His 'live' recitals show a much more involved and fascinting player. This is detached cold playing. Listen to Cherkassky. He studied with Hofmann and adored his playing. He wouldn't enjoy this mechanical performance.
Surprising how direct Hofmann could be on records.If you've heard his live recitals from 30's you know thereis nowhere any more beautiful playing anywhere. Really did not like this. live g minor Ballade ,bminor end of sonata ,op.22,Moskowski almost everything we have liveis the most unimaginably perfect ordered, inspired and certainly ost perfect piano playing any of us will ever here. Instantly u hear nobility of sound and worlds of intuition .PERFECTION !
Hoffman plays with classical restraint and emotional economy that is not common today so many people used to pianists from Rubinstein on don't like his playing. I'm convinced this is the kind of playing that Chopin himself favored and from all accounts I've read.
You have a logical argument which is common sense. Unfortunately, too many people grow up thinking that every pianist needs to shed a tear on the piano.
mackayde, thank you for being fair. Some of what you said is well taken also. Some people can exaggerate their emotions to the point of looking ridiculous and making mistakes as a result. That's taking it too far.
i think this is full of emotions. the problem is, that today everything in music making is exaggerated or overinterpreted (it seems to be necessary for a public who doesn't know anything about music anymore), so in the first moment it is unusual and weird to hear such a playing like Hoffmann, or Rachmaninov etc. Nobody plays like that anymore. They don't needed to force more expression into it. For me, this is the one of the most beautiful versions of that piece.
i'm glad someone said this. it's especially true with Chopin's music: it should be played in it's purest form, fiddle with it and it's ruined. every note Chopin wrote is perfect and can't be any other way. much like how no one can truly understand quantum mechanics because it's mathematically impossible, no one can completely understand chopin because it's genetically impossible.
I don't know... Hofmann is technically perfect... but all Chopin's pieces DEMAND emontions. Even etudes. I don't hear any emotion in this performance. It's like programming a computer with score instructions. Where is the problem? Is it because of old recoring? (too fast?) Listen to Rubinstein. To me, at least, that performance makes an impression.
NGS, Yes, you can play everything without emotions. How? Have you ever heard music programmed on electronic keyboards? Follows the instructions exactly but feels like played by a robot. When played well, it should give you goosebumps.
jacek: True, but it doesn't seem to me like there isn't emotion in this piece. It seems that part of it must come from the person playing obviously, but some of it is also already in the piece itself. It could be hard to tell as you said because it's an old recording.
i was looking for Fantasie-Impromptu ,and what i found what hofmann did is completly different almost perfect and different,in fact i'm practicing it now this is very usfull to me,thank you for posting.
It is the best Fantasy Impromptu I found on You Tube, great technique, simple with feeling, but not pompous and over romantic. I am a big fan of Józef Hofmann. Greetings to all of You able to appreciate Hofmann's big talent.
He just might be... You never know whom you meet these days. I used to know a piano technician who was the grand-something-son of Fritz Reiner. And also met a guy by the last name Leinsdorf, in New Jersey, who was a salesman in Staples. He ended up being a grandson of Erich Leinsdorf. And to top this all, I met a grandson of Toscanini... In New York. This guy, at least, was a prominent architect. He didn't play a note of music.
i think that before he performed this he must have got a text from his wife saying she was ordering chinese and slipping into something a bit more comfortable
I think despite the fast tempo, the poetry WAS there. It doesn't make poetry just because you stretch and forever indulgently trying to give nuance to it. Being direct can be one of the virtues as well. His playing changed quite a bit over the years as well.
in my taste it is a little too fast but i think nowdays very few pianist can play at such speed with such ease...it is very fast but it seems so easy for hofmann...
It can't be just the necessities of recording (what would have been so terrible about stretching it out to two sides?). On the famous recording of a live concert as well, he zips through many of the pieces at an uncomfortably fast tempo. Technique is never enough, especially with Chopin.
Yes Hofmann had a formidable technique, but he was a little too fond of showing it off. Every recording of his that I've heard, the piece is played too fast to really enjoy it. A prime example is the middle section of this piece -- where's the poetry? Even the outer sections have a "let's get this over with "feel" to them.
I do agree with you that the middle section is a little too fast, but notice also the piece is abridged as well, everything to fit in 4 minutes(+-) allotted recording time. Other pianists usually took two sides to play the complete the piece, not abridged and also giving more time to express the middle section.
damn it wad kinda fingers was that? its just SUPER exciting, and every note is perfectly proportioned. what an artist! and look at everyone playing today, they suck so much! how can we compare them to those of the golden age of the piano?thanks for this gem :D
nossa, essa cara tocava demais....
e muito rapido......
magnific
latino211ale 5 months ago
this guy is totally awesome. had never heard him play this one before, thanks.
VisioninScience 7 months ago
Prefer Hofmann performing Liszt ;)
Alanpini 10 months ago
Chopin is SO bel canto...
sirenadellopera 1 year ago
I wish I knew what piano did he play!
MarianneAlkonost 1 year ago
Hofmann possibly near the peak of his technical prowess!
VVKY10 1 year ago
When I was 12, my Polish-born music teacher told me she knew Josef Hofmann, and if I studied, she would take me to play for him. That was a very good incentive, although I don't know if that was just a line to get me to practice. At 12, I practiced, but usually not what the teacher wanted me to practice. So I never met Hofmann!
victormurray1 1 year ago
Comment removed
SpiffilyPeachy 1 year ago
@SpiffilyPeachy so basically you want to completely opposite things
killergoku56 1 year ago
Okay, okay I know! =) But i don't think i actually want to opposite it. I don't hate the song, I love it, but I said i didnt like the tempo. I don't want it be super slow or slow at all. I think I just want the resonance petal to be pressed which would obviously be very difficult with this song or maybe the recording is just not as clear, which would be totally understandable. =/ I have heard friend of mine play this before many times and I never had any objections-but it was live. =) Ya know?
SpiffilyPeachy 1 year ago
@SpiffilyPeachy It is an impromptu. What do you expect? Glory? Dynamic, vibrance? It should be adventurous, light hearted at times, give some clarity and have a touch of romance in it. It is his attempt of the piece. He's playing it less virtuos than most pianists these they would play it. He's sacraficing romantism for a more clear melody. He's truly in love with the piece. It's a good case for studying piano techniques. I personally don't like this performance.
Ianthe22 1 year ago
@Ianthe22 I am definitely ignorant about protocol and the history of music but I truly do appreciate your explanation. I think I just get a little exasperated and anxious when there is such a precise idea of sound I want to discover. I am happy to report that I have taken a class since then which has begun to broaden my intellect in that subject. I am also happy with that.
SpiffilyPeachy 11 months ago
@SpiffilyPeachy I'm happy for you. I would like to hear more about what you have learned and to see how you progress. GL with it all.
Ianthe22 11 months ago
this playing seems very 'correct'.
aardvaark069 1 year ago
sounds like each key operates a tiny bell.
tahirthebad 1 year ago
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horrible
elsdlcielo 1 year ago
Comment removed
SpiffilyPeachy 1 year ago
Best classical pianist of all time!
paulostroff99 1 year ago
amazing.
bennettpiano 1 year ago
Cutner is fabulous .Sofronitsky, until I hear him in Beet and Chopin I wonder what his imagination was capable of!Sauer,Rosenthal.Lhev.I don't put sofr in that list.I think Hofmann changed by the time of the 1930's live perf we have .HisChopinvery direct here.His letters might reveal the conditions of studio and sound rec.likeBusoniwho says a lot about this. idea this was for posterity hadn't sunk in.Godowsky says dont judge him by da recordings.maybe it was ephemeral .not worth planningfor.
lovesGenet 2 years ago
This Music is in "clock tower 3" I love it since I listen it! Thanks for upload!
Neaya91 2 years ago
no, he's Polish
marcind1 2 years ago
no he's Polish
marcind1 2 years ago
is he russian?
bosnaisgreat 2 years ago
manca di sentimento. ha solo eseguito e non interpretato il pezzo...
Troppo veloce, troppo freddo.... non mi entusiasma
cotogna76 2 years ago
Vero! Meglio Rubinstein...
10UnderScore10 2 years ago
Hail maestro Hofmann - is this from a roll ? when was it recorded ? Thx
Alanpini 2 years ago
And don't forget that in the old days there was no editing. What you hear is what they played in one take. When you think of this and listen to some of this stuff it fairley makes your jaw drop.
aardvaark069 2 years ago 2
1918, alla fine della prima guerra mondiale...pazzesco: possiamo ascoltare una registrazione di 100 anni fa..è incredibile..
MetalNicola 2 years ago
wrong
impostor
genyboy1 2 years ago
Never ever did a finer pianist exist! Bravo!
paulostroff99 2 years ago 4
I don't know. There is Sofronitsky and Cutner to think about also. But that being said, they are the three most incredible pianists in my opinion.
Lukecash12 2 years ago
love it
monkeymaddie12 2 years ago 5
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I think Hofmann's version is in its own league. Most of his recordings were, despite the fact that many (from his prime especially, but even some from when he was an old alky lol) were on piano rolls and much of his phrasing and almost subliminal nuances are lost in translation.
BloodyLovin 2 years ago
Slow down, Malmsteen! This is music, not the Olympics.
privet 2 years ago
I like fast playing. But this is rushed. Hofman didn't care, probably needed to pee or was worried about being late for a train.
nextren 2 years ago 3
Maybe. Maybe he was also aiming to fit it on one side of a disc?
But for the most part this is how Hofmann played in studio recordings (for reasons that happened to come true), just taken too far I think.
Godowsky was noted to have taken a similar approach.
RabidCh 2 years ago
Yes... People are oblivious of the fact that this was not recorded yesterday. Recording in their time was almost an unsurmountable feat. Imagine having to play piece completely in 4 min for instance....
aspacguy1 2 years ago
WOW! Unquestionably the best rendition I've heard of this piece. Hofmann almost never fails to astound.
GetMeThere1 2 years ago 3
His technique still astounds me, I like how he doesn't over do it, he truly knows how to make this piece beautiful without making it sound over exaggerated.
Saxopwnerer 3 years ago 18
indeed!
us04adda 2 years ago
he play very fast. it all right though,
horselover422 3 years ago
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Peter Schmalfuss's Interpretation is better.
Elicgt 3 years ago
L'interprétation de Peter Schmalfuss est extraordinaire,c'est vrai,très peu de gens la connaissent, ou bien préfèrent vénérer les idoles.Vous exagérez,et pas un peu!! mais bravo pour votre avis, vous oubliez cependant Hugo Steurer et Josef Bulva(lequel a offert des Liszt sublimes)
antoinezygfryd 3 years ago
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19/F - ne guyz wanna chat? im bored and horny!
type 69 if ur hrny lol xD PW
JM888ALLALFAMAL 3 years ago
Although this may be a bit fast,a bit harsh,and not slow and romantic as is the beautiful version with Iturbi-the playing shines through all of this,and is truly awesome! Bravo! TY.
paulostroff99 3 years ago
It sounds like its being played off of an old radio...and I think that makes it sound even better.
lifeswaytoofun 3 years ago 6
The romantic period is an era which must never be forgotten.
pico2000 3 years ago
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Where are all those feelings? It's a fantasy man
8613942187 3 years ago
this would have soundet a lot better if recorded to day
semicroma 3 years ago
Why do you have 2 thumbs down? I mean recording technology is obviously better today..
iamyourteddybear 3 years ago
I was wondering about that myself.
semicroma 3 years ago
Don't get that beautiful 'rain-drop' tone from pianists today...absolutely beautiful!
bsarweh1969 3 years ago 14
@bsarweh1969 I agree. Not only did they sink into all the notes, but their expression was simply unbelievable.
VisioninScience 7 months ago
Oh, I like Nataliena's quote. Makes sense to me.
garrickohlsson 3 years ago
Tempo a bit extra fast and performance is a bit mechanical, showing very little emotion. Played like a technical exercise with very sparing pedal oftentimes. About the only variation he shows is with the rhythm a few times where he pauses or slows down briefly.
garrickohlsson 3 years ago
Swinging Cantabile♪
orfe125 3 years ago 3
"Chopin's rubato possessed an unshakeable emotional logic. It always justified itself by a strengthening or weakening melodic line, by exaggeration or affectation."
Karol Mikuli, pupil of Chopin
Nataliena 3 years ago 6
This comment has received too many negative votes show
strange that the greatest pianist maybe ever recorded left some really awful examples of the no-nonsense approach to Chopin. Iturbi beats him here. Again though Hofmann is amazing elsewhere u will never hear voicings ,style and tone and a mechanism like his. EAT IT UP BITCHES!
lovesGenet 3 years ago
u people need to be aware of various national and period schools. With romantic music alot can be aloud.If u heard AntonRub or Liszt you'd hear a personality as big as composer. This is Hofmann so shut up and just learn. His recs in teens different player than his perfect ones of 30's and 40's.Chopin would have recog these funny to our ears rubatos . The correctors made errors in the new style. Hear dePachmann,Suer Rosenthal others then u will know the truth!!!
lovesGenet 3 years ago 3
Interesting version, especially since there is near to no rubato in it...
Arcanior 3 years ago
в манере 20 века....это не Шопен
armusik 3 years ago
heh it sounds like a banjo...
Such a shame huh?
PlatypusofCalifornia 3 years ago
Gorgeous! Bravo! TY.
paulostroff99 3 years ago
This piece lacks emotion! I know Hoffman was good but this sounds like a piano roll. It is very mechanically played...ruined
pianoholickyp 3 years ago
I agree with you. But it is maybe also because of the bad sound quality
fotino1 3 years ago
yeah i hadn't thought that..
pianoholickyp 3 years ago
i always think how it would be if we were blessed to listen to chopin himself playing
pianoholickyp 3 years ago
Beautiful mood!
alexongcs 3 years ago
Very nice version. it is alongside the best (i say alongside because this is the best ive heard in technique terms). This lacks the emotion others put into it BUT this is how Chopin would prefer it played and he would choose this over all others.
Zoaguyver 3 years ago
What on earth are you on about? You think that Chopin didn't want to hear emotion in performances of his music? Who told you this nonsense?
cziffra1980 3 years ago
So, did you finally took revenge on the turtle, rabbit Hoffman?
lolnl 3 years ago
hoffman was a great pianist. It is known that he was very suspicious of 'modern' recording techniques and therefore played very much harsher and mechanically because he didnt think the audience would be able to hear suptle musical nuances...
jonnybosch1988 3 years ago
He isn't really playing a "version", the extra trills are just added affectation - many performers do it. The only thing you might not find in all versions is the little extra Klindworth run toward the end of the cantabile (it's actually added as an option on the good ol' Schirmer edition. The only thing I really didn't agree with in his interpretation is galloping speed in the last 8 measures (marked "poco a poco piu tranquillo)!
gbosey 4 years ago
technically brilliant but too mechanical for my tastes. It's not an etude, it's an impromptu. I like the extra flourish at 2:13 - is this in another score edition or was it an improv, anyone know?
AlexPxr8 4 years ago
I've seen that varient in several editions but can't remember which ones they were I'd like to know too.
nickus32000 4 years ago
Etudes shouldn't be played mechanically either.
fongpayman123 4 years ago
lol
ChrisWatch 3 years ago
my favorite version. This is "impromptu" in my opinion!
siobelofrobrasil 4 years ago 3
I have listened to other recordings by Hofmann now, and i like him very much, but this recording still dosn't say anything to me
estudiosinluz 4 years ago
эй вы пидоры! прежде чем обсирать,вы извлеките ХОТЯ БЫ О Д И Н ЗВУК такой чистоты и красоты,какой извлекал великий Хофманн
cvbngbljhjr 4 years ago 5
Veel te snel gespeeld. je hebt geen tijd om adem te halen.
Martindupingoei 4 years ago
Agree, this was surprisingly cold-hearted a version. Good sound, though, for an acoustic recording. Which label is it?
Isayiwill 4 years ago
Too much of finger exercise, but still skilful. I would prefer a less mechanically
way of playing.
SwePianoholic 4 years ago
I mean i dont LIKE it!
estudiosinluz 4 years ago
He should play with more rubato.
I dont this recording.
Some says he is the greatest pianist of all time
estudiosinluz 4 years ago
SLOOOOOOOW DOWN
derstiner 4 years ago
Josef Hofmann was a pioneer in the development of the modern piano technique. He was a contemporary of Liszt and a wonderful pianist.
He believed in the greatest results with the least amount of strain in the approach to the piano. For that, pianists are to be thankful. He's awesome!
britandveg 4 years ago
Franz Liszt: 1811-1886
Joseph Hofmann: 1876-1957
pianopera 4 years ago
i think this is much too fast... there's no feeling, it's only fast...
enaily0 4 years ago
This is closer to the marked tempo than most recordings though.
Ostendere 4 years ago
That's really fast...really really fast.
Ostendere 4 years ago
not musically
estudiosinluz 4 years ago
This is great! Breathtaking. It's like inhaling on the first two bass notes and exhaling on the last chord. I think if I put my mind to it, I can replicate all he does in this piece... This is not unattainable.
Yet just think of this - if you play like that in any competition, the audience and the jury will boo you off the stage.
klizmophil 4 years ago 3
the only right way to play it is the way chopin played it, everything else makes it wrong. Mackayde is right. we dont want those fucking emos fucking up classical music like they have done to rock (that fag singing your beautiful for instance) get a grip u fucking spaz' and stay the fuck away from classical music!
Estagon67 4 years ago
Estagon: Ya know, it is possible to like Classical and Rock equally. I think all forms of music have potential, even rap if they just stopped littering it w/ the 'N' word 'hoes' and so on. Like w/ art there is never going to be one definite form.
NGS712 4 years ago
The masses think that we need buckets of "feelings" in music.
I think it is an excuse by the hordes of talentless masses to reduce the pace they are not capable of keeping up with.
I wish professional pianists would play the way we hear on these old recordings because not every listener has a bleeding heart.
mackayde 4 years ago
Get off your high horse. If you want technique, listen to Gould. The point of Chopin, and especially of a fantaisie, is to stimulate a certain mental state. He's blazing through those top notes like they're inconsequential and missing the point of the music. Sure, he has some fantastic muscle memory in those hands, but this music is supposed to communicate emotion.
itsnotnickxliu 4 years ago
itsnotnickxliu, I'm with you. You miss the beauty of each note when you just whiz through a piece. It has no feeling, no meaning. I just becomes an exercise, like Hanon. I want to hear every note.
YGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYG 4 years ago 6
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Is this piece not Allegro first with cross rythm of triplets and quarter notes?
Allegro?? and then a Presto Finale???
How fast must an Allegro Quarter note be.
I like the blurr effect from playing it fast with pedal as indicated. I like the sound.
Notice that I am not saying it is right or wrong. I'm not that arrogant. Chopin was not my brother so I don't actually know.
mackayde 4 years ago
Somehow, I think Hofmann has a better idea what the music is about. He was a professional who studied it for a living. Rachmaninoff himself had respect for the guy. Yet we mediocre musicians think we can criticize these great musicians as if we are experts who knew Chopin personally and think we can speak on his behalf.
mackayde 4 years ago
mackayde, without feeling and emotion you simply have a metronome. Tick, tock, tick. If you only pursue the mechanics, then you are merely a technician, and not a musician.
That's my take.
YGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYG 4 years ago 2
His 'live' recitals show a much more involved and fascinting player. This is detached cold playing. Listen to Cherkassky. He studied with Hofmann and adored his playing. He wouldn't enjoy this mechanical performance.
piano345 4 years ago 9
piano345 - You hit the nail on the head; it's just mechanics and not music. You can be a great technician, but a lousy musician.
YGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYG 4 years ago
its an old recording.. a lot of the nuances are lost. if hoffman is really that good.. he can put emotion even at this speed.. but who knows?
aspacguy1 4 years ago
I agree.
SpiffilyPeachy 1 year ago
Surprising how direct Hofmann could be on records.If you've heard his live recitals from 30's you know thereis nowhere any more beautiful playing anywhere. Really did not like this. live g minor Ballade ,bminor end of sonata ,op.22,Moskowski almost everything we have liveis the most unimaginably perfect ordered, inspired and certainly ost perfect piano playing any of us will ever here. Instantly u hear nobility of sound and worlds of intuition .PERFECTION !
lovesGenet 4 years ago
I completely agree with sviatoslavberezovsky.
Hoffman plays with classical restraint and emotional economy that is not common today so many people used to pianists from Rubinstein on don't like his playing. I'm convinced this is the kind of playing that Chopin himself favored and from all accounts I've read.
nickus32000 4 years ago
You have a logical argument which is common sense. Unfortunately, too many people grow up thinking that every pianist needs to shed a tear on the piano.
mackayde 4 years ago 2
mackayde, thank you for being fair. Some of what you said is well taken also. Some people can exaggerate their emotions to the point of looking ridiculous and making mistakes as a result. That's taking it too far.
YGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYGYG 4 years ago
i think this is full of emotions. the problem is, that today everything in music making is exaggerated or overinterpreted (it seems to be necessary for a public who doesn't know anything about music anymore), so in the first moment it is unusual and weird to hear such a playing like Hoffmann, or Rachmaninov etc. Nobody plays like that anymore. They don't needed to force more expression into it. For me, this is the one of the most beautiful versions of that piece.
sviatoslavberezovsky 4 years ago 3
Absolutely agree with You,
greetings from arwena55
arwena55 4 years ago
i'm glad someone said this. it's especially true with Chopin's music: it should be played in it's purest form, fiddle with it and it's ruined. every note Chopin wrote is perfect and can't be any other way. much like how no one can truly understand quantum mechanics because it's mathematically impossible, no one can completely understand chopin because it's genetically impossible.
ibclappin 4 years ago
I don't know... Hofmann is technically perfect... but all Chopin's pieces DEMAND emontions. Even etudes. I don't hear any emotion in this performance. It's like programming a computer with score instructions. Where is the problem? Is it because of old recoring? (too fast?) Listen to Rubinstein. To me, at least, that performance makes an impression.
jacek9291 4 years ago
jacek: Is there anyway you can play piece w/o emotion.
NGS712 4 years ago
NGS, Yes, you can play everything without emotions. How? Have you ever heard music programmed on electronic keyboards? Follows the instructions exactly but feels like played by a robot. When played well, it should give you goosebumps.
jacek9291 4 years ago
jacek: True, but it doesn't seem to me like there isn't emotion in this piece. It seems that part of it must come from the person playing obviously, but some of it is also already in the piece itself. It could be hard to tell as you said because it's an old recording.
NGS712 4 years ago
i was looking for Fantasie-Impromptu ,and what i found what hofmann did is completly different almost perfect and different,in fact i'm practicing it now this is very usfull to me,thank you for posting.
julesdarwich 4 years ago 4
the purest and most unfiddled-with form of Chopin's music i've ever heard.
compositions! someone please post some of his compositions.
ibclappin 4 years ago 4
It is the best Fantasy Impromptu I found on You Tube, great technique, simple with feeling, but not pompous and over romantic. I am a big fan of Józef Hofmann. Greetings to all of You able to appreciate Hofmann's big talent.
arwena55 4 years ago
Josef Hofmann was my great-grandfather. I think he was so talented and am so proud listening to his music.
skmenard123 4 years ago
skmenard: Really? I'm just a little skeptical because on the Internet people can say anything w/o being proven or disproved.
NGS712 4 years ago
He just might be... You never know whom you meet these days. I used to know a piano technician who was the grand-something-son of Fritz Reiner. And also met a guy by the last name Leinsdorf, in New Jersey, who was a salesman in Staples. He ended up being a grandson of Erich Leinsdorf. And to top this all, I met a grandson of Toscanini... In New York. This guy, at least, was a prominent architect. He didn't play a note of music.
klizmophil 4 years ago
kliz: Ya lost me w/ the first two. I'm not a music expert! I think there was someone on YT who said they were related to Hemingway.
NGS712 4 years ago
i think that before he performed this he must have got a text from his wife saying she was ordering chinese and slipping into something a bit more comfortable
barelyapianist 4 years ago
I think despite the fast tempo, the poetry WAS there. It doesn't make poetry just because you stretch and forever indulgently trying to give nuance to it. Being direct can be one of the virtues as well. His playing changed quite a bit over the years as well.
sjpflute 4 years ago 3
its very fast.... but the tempo were all perfect
juliaCSL 4 years ago 2
in my taste it is a little too fast but i think nowdays very few pianist can play at such speed with such ease...it is very fast but it seems so easy for hofmann...
Masatsu 4 years ago
It can't be just the necessities of recording (what would have been so terrible about stretching it out to two sides?). On the famous recording of a live concert as well, he zips through many of the pieces at an uncomfortably fast tempo. Technique is never enough, especially with Chopin.
slobone 4 years ago
"what would have been so terrible about stretching it out to two sides?"
maybe that the listener must stop the playing device, turn the disc and start again, thus interrupting the piece in the middle of a phrase?
revilo178 2 years ago
Yes Hofmann had a formidable technique, but he was a little too fond of showing it off. Every recording of his that I've heard, the piece is played too fast to really enjoy it. A prime example is the middle section of this piece -- where's the poetry? Even the outer sections have a "let's get this over with "feel" to them.
slobone 4 years ago
I do agree with you that the middle section is a little too fast, but notice also the piece is abridged as well, everything to fit in 4 minutes(+-) allotted recording time. Other pianists usually took two sides to play the complete the piece, not abridged and also giving more time to express the middle section.
samkr2007 4 years ago 4
damn it wad kinda fingers was that? its just SUPER exciting, and every note is perfectly proportioned. what an artist! and look at everyone playing today, they suck so much! how can we compare them to those of the golden age of the piano?thanks for this gem :D
lavenderpowder 4 years ago 3
great performance!
jazziko 4 years ago
Great! No sugar added. Can't wait for the "Emotion" brigades to arrive with their criticism. :-)
mltube 4 years ago 4
What playing! None better . . . 5 stars.
orionedwin 4 years ago
the audio isn't very good but it's really old, great post. thank you, hofmann was a great pianist
IloveAlexisBledel689 4 years ago
This is amazing.
MitchelWeaver 4 years ago