Gerard Hoffnung – The Comic Genius of Gerard Hoffnung – Classic Albums 1956-61 – 3CD

Gerard Hoffnung was an extraordinarily talented personality, an artist, cartoonist, musician, broadcaster, raconteur and impresario, born in Germany in 1925, but who moved to England just before WWII, and in the 1950s started appearing on the BBC and contributing to various humorous magazines. He devised the concept of spoof classical music concerts at London’s famous Royal Festival Hall, where he and a number of respected musicians and ensembles performed elaborate parodies of various serious musical, choral and spoken pieces. This 3-CD collection comprises the complete content of four albums, all recorded ‘live’ at his different performances, some of which were not released until after his tragic and untimely death from a cerebral haemorrhage in 1959 at the age of 34. Those albums are “The Hoffnung Music Festival Concert”, “The Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival”, “The Hoffnung Astronomical Music Festival”, and “Hoffnung At The Oxford Union”. The Oxford Union album, featuring him in his solo role as a raconteur, includes his legendary “barrel of bricks” story, consistently in demand over the years on BBC radio record request programmes. It’s a magnificently eccentric and entertaining memento of a unique and brilliant polymath.

Track Listing:

CD1:
T. E. Bean, General Manager, Royal Festival Hall: 1. Introductory Speech -   Trumpeters Of The Royal Military School Of Music: 2. Fanfare -   Morley College Symphony Orchestra: 3. A Grand Grand Overture -   Dennis Brain & Morley College Symphony Orchestra: 4. Concerto For Hosepipe And Strings (3rd Movement) -   Yvonne Arnold & Morley College Symphony Orchestra: 5. Concerto Popolare (A Piano Concerto To End All Piano Concertos) -   Members of the BBC Music Division: 6. Symphony No. 94 In G 'The Surprise' – Andante -   Gerard Hoffnung: 7. Speech By Gerard Hoffnung -   Tuba Quartet: 8. Mazurka No. 49 In A Minor, Op. 68 No. 2 -   Yvonne Arnold & Gerard Hoffnung: 9. Lochinvar (For Speakers And Percussion) -   Festival Ensemble conducted by Gordon Jacob: 10. Variations On Annie Laurie -

CD2:
The Hoffnung Festival Opera Company & Chorus: 1. Introductory Music Played In The Foyer -   2. Two Excerpts From 'A Hoffnung Festival Overture' -   3. Metamorphosis On A Bed-time Theme -   4. Sugar Plums -   5. The Famous Tay Whale -   6. A Movement From Concerto for Conductor and Orchestra -   7. Punkt Contrapunkt -   8. Excerpts From The United Nations -   9. Waltz For Restricted Orchestra -   10. Let's Fake An Opera, Or The Tales of Hoffnung -

CD3:
Gerard Hoffnung: 1. Gerard Hoffnung At The Oxford Union Part 1 -   2. Gerard Hoffnung At The Oxford Union Part 2 -   Six Trumpets, Six Trombones And Four Percussion Of The Royal Military School Of Music: 3. Introductory Music Played In The Foyer – Rigmarole -   The Trumpeters Of The Royal Military School Of Music: 4. Festival Anthem -   The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra with The Trumpeters Of The Royal Military School Of Music: 5. Overture, Leonora No. 4 -   The Hoffnung Festival Choral Society: 6. Duet From The Comic Opera "The Barber Of Darmstadt" -   The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra: 7. Ballad Of County Down, Mostly In D Major -   The Hoffnung Festival Choral Society: 8. Excerpt From "Belshazzar's Feast" -   9. Horrortorio -   The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra: 10. Mobile For Seven Orchestras -