London again (February 1977)

Jorge Bolet began his major return to the UK in 1977. Edward Greenfield's review is very complimentary.

17 February 1977, Thursday (he was aged 62)

Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Haydn, Sonata in E flat (No.52), Telemann/Reger, Liszt 3 Concert Studies, Don Juan Fantasy

Jorge was generous with encores. Chopin: Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1, Moszkowski: La Jongleuse, Op.52 No.4, Chopin/Godowsky: Etude in G-flat major, Op.10 No.5 (Study No.7 in G-flat major), Liszt: Valse-Impromptu, S.213 and Saint-Saëns/Godowsky: The Swan (from Carnival of the Animals). 

Dr G. de Koos & Co. Management organised the concert - the company had handled JB's first European tour in 1935.

Jorge hadn't been completely absent from the UK in the 1970s, cf. March 1973 (Birmingham) Oct/Dec 1974 (London), but these few events had been orchestral concerts.  But it was in 1977 that he he was to have a big, possibly his biggest break - with a long-term record contract for a major international label, Decca; this was to bring him the fame he had sought for so long.

Edward Greenfield in The Guardian : 'Some years ago they issued records of the legendary pianist Josef Hofmann made from the piano rolls he cut in the 1920s, using the highly sophisticated Duo-Art system. I was sceptical that piano articulation at high speed could ever have been so miraculously clear and even.

'I still wonder whether some touching up was done on the actual rolls, but here was a pianist absurdly under-appreciated in this country who had me believing in the Hofmann legend after all.  As Mr Bolet demonstrated over and over again, that miraculous clarity is achievable by human fingers in live performance. (...) It is not often that we have piano-tigers even from across the Atlantic pouncing to such effect.