Josef Hofmann with Mitropoulos Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 op.58 (22 August 1943)

Josef Jofmann, piano
Conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G, op.58
Broadcast, 22 August 1943

[@christiankircher369]

thats a real Beethoven. a true one. Beethoven would have been delighted to hear this.Extraordinary performance. the piano is singing and has at the same time strenght. but never is stiff as in so many interpretations. Young pianists should listen to this and try to get the technique necessary for it.

[@carlhopkinson]

To my mind, the greatest of all piano concertos.

[@WarinPartita6]

Thanks​​ for​ sharing this​magnificent​ video​ of​ a great​ artist.

[@MrInterestingthings]

There is a post on youtube where this great musician's tone and piano sound cutesy in this monumental work . I keep finding recordings then go back and everything is different .Hofmann is unlike anyone else an even bigger personality than Horowitz a truly great mind and a depth to his interps unlike that of any other ! So glad I found this upload it sounds like Hofmann .

[@MrInterestingthings]

I really don't believe anyone alive now or since Hofmann Can play like this. Those light chordal runs sound unlike anyone as if each note is being played by a different instrument . It's more than piano intuition, he had ears, mind, genius and a musicalgift of communication . His teacher Anton supposedly was even more Titanic! Gilels was Titanic enough,! None of us will ever hear finger work like this or wristwork . Everything makes my head shake hear and this was after his prime. Mitropolous is divine!

[@DynastieArtistique]

@@MrInterestingthingsHofmann is a once in a universe phenomenon, like Bach

[@gabrieltancredinicotra]

Merci ! Played with such energy! The applause after the first movement was needed indeed.

[@Twentythousandlps]

Hofmann was a composer and surely wrote his own cadenzas.

[@markhenselt9565]

Reinecke, I believe

[@stephenlord9]

No, the cadenza is not Beethoven's very familiar one. Bit what is the the purpose of a cadenza? Bravo Hoffmann. He fulfills the needs and desires of a cadenza and it is personal, which is the whole point.

[@_PROCLUS]

Thank you very much for the most wonderful upload

[@sosoyo180]

28:45 his cadenza

[@Leibo07]

Hurray. Two of my favorites. Or actually three. And thx for sharing.

[@antoinezygfryd]

ah!ce thème du second mouvement qui semble jaillir de nulle part.... quel scintillement de cette merveilleuse sonorité.... merci pour ce trésor!

[@christiankircher369]

yes indeed this a world treasure. one never will hear something again. Josef Hofmann was a real Master.

[@theopaopa1]

excellent. a real musician. chapeau ! thank you very much !💯

[@timjowett7300]

Tim Jowett. Played brilliantly , both chilling and chilled like.

[@_PROCLUS]

The music 0:28 .... 16:52 .... 21:26

[@John-se5vc]

In my student days, I saw a 16mm film of Hofmann playing this entire concerto. What a gorgeous cadenza! I don't know who wrote it.

[@democolor42]

Cadenza is not Beethoven's but what a genius, brilliant musician from the fairy tales. It is so sad that in later years he started heavy drinking.

[@RModillo]

Apparently, that started before Rachmaninoff died, although perhaps not with consistency. I wonder what kind of shape he was in for this broadcast?

[@大矢優]

日々の生活で精神をすり減らすような仕事に 従事しているクラシック好きは、是非ホフマンを聴いて 心身をリフレッシュしてほしいものです。 ジョーゼフホフマンは、史上屈指の名ピアニスト ですが、同時にエンターテイナーです。 その在り方は、シューラチェルカスキーに受け継がれましたが、 やはりスケールではホフマンが上だ

[@elizabethnekesa7321]

Wow...

[@goodmanmusica]

here is the rest of the concert: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5bagqJno5qnZrM

[@大矢優]

Bravo 以前聞いたものとは復刻のレベルが比較にならない 生々しさ。 ホフマンの伝説が、ただの御伽噺ではない事が この録音で裏づけられた。

[@stephengallucci1592]

This is a much more interesting Cadenza.

[@esejsnake1503]

21:30 nice :-)

[@mirkojorgovic]

Best Beethoven piano performances: Hoffman, Horowitz, Ely Ney, Claudio Arrau , Wilhelm Backhaus, Gieseking , Emil Giljels, S. Richter....

[@tunatuna6723]

Alfred Brendel!

[@RaineriHakkarainen]

Wilhelm Kempff More colorful beautiful piano sound for Beethoven no 4 than Hofmann! Vladimir Ashkenazy had More colorful beautiful piano sound for Beethoven no 5 than Hofmann! Grigory Sokolov his Beethoven concerto no 5 Rhythmic vitalness is unbeatable!!

[@malbamope]

I wonder if the Backhaus/Bohm interpretation is based on this one....though Backhaus was no Hoffmann!

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Backhaus was one of the most extraordinary pianists of all time. Listen to his Chopin Etudes. But yes, Hoffmann is Hoffmann and there was no one like him. And there is no one like him either. Hell, there won’t be another one like him.

[@RaineriHakkarainen]

Come on! More beautiful colorful piano sound than Hofmann and Backhaus=Wilhelm Kempff Emil Gilels Artur Rubinstein Radu Lupu Vladimir Ashkenazy! More Powerful Louder than Hofmann and Backhaus=Mikhail Pletnev Supernova Explosion Power!( Prokofiev piano concerto no 1 by Pletnev!) The Second Loudest pianist was Lazar Berman! More Genius than Backhaus and Hofmann=Sviatoslav Richter Solomon Cutner Grigory Sokolov Maurizio Pollini Alexei Lubimov Stanislav Igolinsky!

[@kakoou3362]

@@RaineriHakkarainenI dont think I agree with anything You said here

[@mehmetiksel3081]

A remarkable curiosity with interspersed pianistic gems but not as musically convincing to us as the greats of the next generation. His virtuoso style is more suited to Chopin in which he can, like his contemporary, Cortot, teach a lot to the upcoming Asian wunderkinder. (who by the way, impress us with an increasing musicality despite their lack of pedagogic pedigree.)

[@jackatherton0111]

Try as I have for fifty years, I don’t hear the primal surge of Beethoven in Hofmann’s (admittedly late) radio transcriptions. His Chopin is more problematic. The E minor concerto fragment from London would be enough to place Hofmann on Parnassus. The full concerto with Barbirolli in New York is less focused, and so it goes with Hofmann. His friend Rachmaninov said Josef’s late performances reflected his level of alcohol. But thanks so much for sharing.

[@Barbapippo]

devo avere le allucinazioni acustiche.... Hoffmann fa precedere l'accordo iniziale da un arpeggio "preparatorio"!?

[@TheStefanNestor]

Hofmann era solito farlo...

[@p.a.cthegoldenageofmusic3279]

È solo ignoranza...prima si preludiava e questa cosa aiutava la qualità del suono e la rilassatezza e naturalezza dell'esecuzione

[@Barbapippo]

@@p.a.cthegoldenageofmusic3279 Da ignoranti è rovinare la sorpresa del magico inizio di questo concerto con un'insulsa settima diminuita, e chi se ne frega se così usava ai tempi "d'oro"; ma, si sa, i passatisti trovano sempre una giustificazione per qualunque malvezzo, purché d'annata... Beethoven, che non esitò a bloccare la pubblicazione dell'Hammerklavier pur di aggiungere due note all'inizio del terzo movimento, avrebbe preso il grande Hoffmann a pedate nel sedere, altro che storie.

[@p.a.cthegoldenageofmusic3279]

@@Barbapippo continua la sua ignoranza... Beethoven era forse il più grande improvvisatore di tutti i tempi...fini al 1945 circa si è sempre improvvisati anche in concerto e preludiato...gli ignoranti abbiano almeno l umiltà di informarsi:ascolti l ultimo concerto di Backhaus... siamo nel 1968...e Backhaus Beethoven lo conosceva molto bene!Mi dispiace per lei

[@Barbapippo]

@@p.a.cthegoldenageofmusic3279 Continua la sua supponente imbecillità; stai a vedere, adesso, che suonare a sproposito UN accordo di settima diminuita prima di cominciare è "improvvisare": ma mi faccia il piacere, come direbbe Totò; e con questa la saluto, propini le sue ridicole lezioncine di prassi esecutiva dei bei tempi andati a qualcun altro.

[@susanamatthias8569]

Μμ. Μμμμμ μ μμ. Μμ μμ μ

[@hyramesshiramess1035]

Oh DEAR! What a cadenza! It sounded like a PARODY -- Something worthy of DUDLEY MOORE, although some of it was played in a sublimely lyrical fashion. A strange rather theatrical interpretation, full of individual character, but I prefer a more reverent, "innig," less flamboyant interpretation. I'm thinking particularly of Guiomar Novaes --- also Glenn Gould, whose recording from the early 1960's is sublime.

[@patrickcrosby3824]

Not as good as Lang Lang, you don't think? :)

[@_PROCLUS]

Good one ...

[@TheErnesto7608]

@@patrickcrosby3824 "Lang Lang"... what is this? A new candy? I was mesmerized by the cadenza. New music introduced into this concerto that we heard a hundred times. Yes, profane like all of Hofmann, but... wonderful display of fire works! No wonder the audience clapped so much after it.

[@chrisczajasager]

tradition, an introductory contact with t the piano before the 'main course' from his master, Anton Rubinstein! here JH in his declining years( alcoholism) not really a service to his memory, this release!!!

[@christiankircher369]

you are very wrong , try to play like this when drunk you will see its impossible to reach this level of Mastering. when recording this Hofmann was not drunk. Everything is totally clear and done with Maitrise. he is like an architect who creates a monument like a cathedral here.

[@pianoredux7516]

Mr. Sager and Mr. Kircher are both right. While this is not peak Hofmann, there are still gold nuggets in it demonstrating his uniqueness.

[@p.a.cthegoldenageofmusic3279]

Mister Kircher Is right.One of the very Little White mosquitos remained nowadays...

[@thewizardii1638]

very gd. but the cadenza?. wheres beethovens cadenza..