Glass Harmonica: the strange tale of…

[doversoul1]

Music Feature: Saturday 12:15

Dame Evelyn Glennie celebrates the 250th birthday of one of the most unusual of all musical instruments, the Glass Armonica, premiered by Benjamin Franklin in 1762. She tries out the working instrument at the Benjamin Franklin House in London, sees an original example in the Horniman Museum, and discovers the repertoire written for it by Mozart, Hasse and Donizetti. On the way, she encounters madness and mental illness, reveals one of the world's first female virtuosi, Marianne Davies, and meets the man responsible for the present day revival of this remarkable instrument, Thomas Bloch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvqsb

This will be worth listening to but I dispute the last sentence. Thomas Bloch was, according to wiki, born in 1962. I bought Bruno Hoffmann’s recital LP in 1970 (or there about). Come to think of it, one of the most disappointing CDs I have ever bought was this:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8555295

(or is 1970 no longer the present day...?)

[MrGongGong]

and equally extraordinary tale would be that of the man who used to make them
then mysteriously vanished .....

http://www.finkenbeiner.com/GLASSHARMONICA.htm

[Don Petter]

I agree with you, ds! Bruno Hoffmann was very much 'Mr Glass Harmonica' at that time, or a little earlier.

A quick spot check shows him having, or appearing on, six recordings in the March 1966 Gramophone Catalogue. (Though it had dropped to one, of works by Mozart, by 1970.)

[Ferretfancy]

I have the Bruno Hoffman Mozart disc, and also a Columbia LP of Dream Sequence ( Images II ) by George Crumb, in which a glass harmonica provides a continuous shimmering background. The player of what are described as offstage crystal glasses is Mi Ho Lee. This is a very haunting piece lasting about 20 minutes, and is pianissimo almost throughout. The other instruments are violin, cello,piano and percussion, rather good for late night listening.

[doversoul1]

Bruno Hoffmann came to Japan in the early 1970s or the late 1960s and the LP I had must have been the special issue. I didn’t go to the concert but apparently, the concert organiser had to ask the hall management to stop the air conditioning so that the audience could hear the music. I wonder what I did with the LP…