Magdalena Hoffmann: Nightscapes
Deutsche Grammophon

On her debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, harpist Magdalena Hoffmann tailors the recording to maximize two things in particular: the spellbinding sonorities her instrument inherently lends itself to producing, and a waking dreamstate condition the composers' compositions are as naturally capable of inducing in listeners. The set-list is diverse and centuries-spanning when material by Fred Hersch and Benjamin Britten appears alongside pieces by Chopin and Clara Schumann, but all of the selections exemplify qualities associated with music of the night: introspection, intimacy, mystery, and magic. On this encompassing collection, Hoffmann combines original pieces for solo harp with piano compositions transcribed by her.

Born in Basel, Switzerland in 1990, she began harp lessons at the age of six and eleven years later enrolled at the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf. After she earned her master's degree at Munich's University of Music and Performing Arts, further study saw her acquire insights into the French harp tradition as well as those associated with Italy and Russia. In 2018, she became principal harpist of the renowned Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Such a background suggests no one is better qualified to take on the Nightscapes programme than Hoffmann.

Written in 1969 for the Welsh harpist Ossian Ellis, Britten's five-movement Suite for Harp, Op. 83 is one of the most formidable pieces written for the instrument, its importance elevated by the fact that the composer purposefully set out to explore harp technique and tone colour in the writing. The movement titles reflect the changes in character from one to the next, with a hushed, mystery-laden nocturne preceded by a majestic overture and lively toccata and followed by an animated fugue and dramatic hymn. Yet while his suite is the album's centrepiece, its impact is matched by other pieces. With its lovely descending melody, Schumann's plaintive Notturno in F Major reminds us once again of her distinctive voice as a composer, even if Chopin's influence is audible in material written when she was but sixteen years old. While Hoffmann distinguishes her performance of Respighi's Notturno in G flat major with a mesmerizing marriage of lyrical melodies and lilting rhythm patterns, her treatment of Ildebrando Pizzetti's gentle Sogno (Dream) deepens the spell with seductive languor and romantic lyricism.

Generally considered the inventor of the single-movement nocturne, Irish composer John Field is represented by performances of his Nocturne No. 5 in B flat major H 37 and Nocturne No. 12 in G major H 58, both dreamily lilting and marked by graceful arpeggio patterns. Also of historical note, the album includes a treatment by Hoffmann of Danse des Lutins (Dance of the Elves) by French harpist Henriette Renié (1875–1956), who had pieces written for her by no less than Fauré, Debussy, and Ravel. Dance-driven too are Marcel Tournier's folk-inflected La Danse du Moujik (The Muzhik's Dance) and Jean-Michel Damase's sparkling Fantaisie pour harpe, which uses the “Barcarole” from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann as a springboard for an enveloping, glissandos-rich reverie.

Of course any collection featuring nocturnes will invariably include Chopin, and true to form Hoffmann includes four pieces by the French-Polish composer, harp transcriptions of three waltzes and a serenading album-closing nocturne. The Valse in A minor KK IVb/11, Valse in E minor KK IVa/15, and Valse in A Minor “Grande Valse Brilliante” charm for their bewitching melodies and Hoffmann's graceful rendering thereof. The opening part of Three Character Studies, Hersch's "Nocturne for the Left Hand Alone" is perhaps the album's largest left-turn, seeing as how its creator's more associated with jazz than classical (even if he has been heavily influenced by classical music). However, the ruminative setting, a piano improvisation he subsequently set down in writing, sounds completely at home in the company of the other selections.

March 2022