Books › Musical Courier 1927-04-07: Vol 94 Iss 14, 1927 › scan 18
Scan 18
Musical Courier 1927-04-07: Vol 94 Iss 14, 1927
50 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 19. See the scan on archive.org.
1FRIEDA KWAST-HODAPP
2ITALY-FRANCE-BELGIUM-GERMANY—Season 1926-27
4ITALY
5"Among the many pianists heard here this season, Frieda Kwast-Hodapp is undoubtedly the best. Her wonderful technic is equal to the most intricate and involved difficulties, as she showed in the Brahms Paganini Variations, as well as to the most emotional and touching depths of human feeling, as depicted in Chopin's Twelve Preludes. The audience thanked her with rapturous acclamations."—Il Messagero, Rome (1926).
7"The public was delighted to render homage to the rare technical and interpretative qualities of this pianist, who is decidedly one of the best in Europe. Her almost masculine power, intermingled with delicate poetry, has enabled her to reproduce most convincingly the works of Beethoven as well as those of Chopin and Brahms. Great ovations were given her."—Tribuna, Rome (1926).
9"Frieda Kwast-Hodapp revealed herself as an artist of great technical and interpretative gifts. The flexibility of her fingers, the assuredness of her use of the pedal, her dominance over the keyboard unite in an adaptability of expression that, in its depth of emotion and truth, cannot but be absolutely convincing."—Corriere d'Italia, Rome (1926).
11"An artist of the very highest grade, gifted with force and energy quite uncommon in a woman, and capable of mastering and overcoming to an astounding degree all the difficulties of the most intricate works for the piano."—La Sera, Milan.
13"She possesses all the very best pianistic qualities. Her technic is gigantic and her powers enormous. . . ."—Corriere della Sera, Milan.
15FRANCE
16"The concertino by Busoni, rendered with transcendental grace, and still more so Beethoven's piano concerto in G major, in a truly marvellous interpretation, gained for Mme. Kwast-Hodapp lengthy and sincere ovations. The Paris public acknowledges her as one of the greatest of her kind."—Excelsior, Paris (1926).
18". . . In Paris she had an exceptional and well-earned success. She is above all a virtuosa capable of enthusing the public by the perfection of her technic. But I must add at once that, apart from this technical perfection, Mme. Kwast-Hodapp is an excellent musician. The way in which she played the andante in Beethoven's concerto in G-major in itself would suffice to prove this assertion."—Comedia, Paris (1926).
20". . . An artist of flawless mastery, she gave a concert at the Salle Gaveau with the Colonne Orchestra, under the leadership of Pierné. She rendered Beethoven's G-major concerto with marvellous musicianship. Her powers of modulation in the andante of this work, undoubtedly the most pathetic Beethoven ever wrote, were extraordinary."—Figaro, Paris (1926).
22"Although I do not wish to enumerate the large number of pianists who have played here, I must make an exception in the case of Frieda Kwast-Hodapp, for she possesses a most expressive and exceptionally flowing touch. She is an artist of the very first rank."—Paris-Soir (1926).
24". . . A pity that French pianists of distinction do not profit by the presence in Paris of such a pianist and watch and listen to her playing of Beethoven. Her rendering of the D-minor sonata was marvellous in the Allegro, and of exquisite simplicity in the Adagio. In Chopin's Twelve Preludes she was equally fine."—Paris Telegramme (1926).
26BELGIUM
27"She is an artist of the highest musical and technical traditions. She unites richness of tone and modulation with softness and strength of touch as occasion demands. Her Paganini Variations by Brahms were brilliant and her renderings of Beethoven's sonata, opus 111, the C-minor variations and the Rondo on the Lost Penny was absolutely masterful."—Libre Belgique, Brussels (1926).
29"Her technic is astounding, her flawlessness a miracle, her staying powers remarkable, her passages a row of pearls strung together with delightful grace and immutable infallibility. Add to this a vivid intelligence and it gives us the exceptional qualities possessed by this virtuosa."—Midi, Brussels (1926).
31"The delight we feel in her playing is based on her wonderfully assured dexterity, her lusciousness and purity of tone, and the technical infallibility which dominates all difficulties and renders them nonexistent. She possesses a dazzling range of color, her pianoforte, staccato and legato harmonizing in every rhythm and in every nuance, expressive to perfection of the wildest ranges of passion as well as of the most delicate shades of emotion. She penetrates to the very core of the composer's being. The work sets her aflame and it seems as though she were recreating it anew."—Het Laaste Mews, Brussels (1926).
33SWITZERLAND
34"To master Brahms' D-minor concerto requires a personality of masculine virility, possessing the very finest sense, however, of the intimate traits in the composer's character. Frieda Kwast-Hodapp is such a personality. She mastered the monumental parts of the score with flawless grandeur and a nobleness of tone able to cope with that of the huge orchestra. Her innate comprehension of this music also permits her to evolve the most soulful delicacy from the robust nature of the theme, while her masterly pianistic gifts include the most subtle and elusive of tinting. She imparts true musicianship to that which is merely technical. Probably a cadence was never played more exquisitely than that at the end of the second movement with its ethereal thrills. She is a master in the widest meaning of the word, and as such did the audience acclaim her."—Neue Züricher Zeitung (1926).
36GERMANY
37"Her wonderful artistry was revealed in Brahms' F-minor sonata. I hardly remember ever before having heard the work rendered more sonorously and more grandly than on this occasion. Her illuminating interpretation, replete with passion and power, revealed the artist at the very apex of abilities that are perfection in themselves."—M. Schrenk, in Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Berlin (1926).
39"As soon as she touches the keys her hearers are in her toils; she holds her public spellbound and need not trouble any longer about her success. Her recital at the Beethoven Hall, where she played Brahms, Weber, Chopin and older composers, showed her at the height of her powers. The Perpetuum Mobile from Weber's C-major sonata was a triumph of pure technic, while in Chopin's B-minor sonata the nobility and beauty of her tone and the flawless mastery of all manual work were coupled to a wide breadth of interpretation enhanced by true musical comprehension and poetic feeling. I cannot remember ever having heard the work played in this manner by a woman before."—Dr. Leopold Schmidt in Berliner Tageblatt (1926).
41"The recital given by Frieda Kwast-Hodapp was a great event both insofar as its outer success and its intrinsic importance are concerned. This earnest and noble artist, already counted among the elect, would again appear to have grown in mentality if this were possible. Her rendering of Chopin's B-minor sonata and the delightful series of smaller pieces by old masters attained a height that few only are permitted to reach."—Berliner Lokalanzeiger (1926).
43"This exceptionally gifted pianist possesses artistic emotions and depths of conception to which she gives expression in a magnificent, rich and thoroughly balanced manner. Hers is a noble, virile nature, fully capable of every nuance of romance, combined with a constructive ability that is equal to great architectural feats."—Allgemeine Musikzeitung (1926).
45"Frieda Kwast-Hodapp, recognized as a specialist in Brahms and Reger (who dedicated his F-minor concerto to her), surprised us by a series of charmingly played dainty morsels. Who would have credited the mentality and technic of this austere and intellectual woman to take so much delight in these playful offerings?"—Vossische Zeitung, Berlin (1926).
47"Her qualities are well-known—virile, noble! To hear her in Mozart was an exceptional treat."—Signale für die Musikalische Welt, Berlin (1926).
49KONZERTDIREKTION WOLFF & SACHS, LINKSTRASSE 42, BERLIN, W.
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