Josef Hofmann was a prodigy and a polymath. Fascinated by technology he made experimental cylinder recordings as early as 1887, and undertook an American tour at the age of eleven. One of the very greatest pianists of the Golden Age, his recorded legacy is priceless, but like many musicians of his generation he also composed. He wrote a symphony, five piano concertos, and a considerable amount of distinctive and enjoyable solo piano music in the Romantic tradition, including a richly contrasted set of Charakterskizzen, Op. 40, a Sonata in F major, Op. 21 that reveals the influence of Schumann, and a finely wrought Theme and Variations and Fugue, Op. 14. Artem Yasynskyy won the Hofmann Prize at the First German Piano Competition of Polish Music in Hamburg in 2013.
