Magdalena Hoffmann will release her second album with Deutsche Grammophon, titled Fantasia, on Sept. 6 in digital and CD formats. According to a press release, the album focuses on the music of the Baroque period, showcasing the harp in a selection of fantasias and preludes originally written for keyboard or lute by Johann Sebastian Bach, his sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel, and his contemporaries George Frideric Handel and Silvius Leopold Weiss.
Hoffmann says Baroque works in the genre of fantasias, which contrast improvisation with formal rigor, lend themselves to transcriptions for her instrument. “The harp has what you might almost call a home advantage, thanks to its natural potential for the kind of free, ornamental arpeggiation so typical of Baroque preludes and fantasias,” she says. “Each fantasia is like a musical snapshot that sounds different every time you play it—its energy is infinite, and it can never be definitively captured.”
Listen to a pre-release track on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring Hoffmann’s transcription of “Fantasia in C Minor” written by Weiss for the lute and transcribed by Hoffmann for the harp. For more information, visit Hoffmann’s website.
