"Blues for Harp, Oboe, and Violoncello" was my first attempt at infusing a contemporary classical work with blues essence. Putting the blues on the American serious concert music stage was a primary mission that originally drove me to composition. The performers who recorded this work were each stellar and well-known to serious listeners of classical music. Oboist John Mack was dubbed by the New York Times "the dean of American oboists," harpist Yolanda Kondonassis the elegant winner of countless international awards, debuting at age 18 as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, and cellist Bryan Dumm, a highly respected cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra honored me with both this recording and a special live performance in Cleveland,Ohio. This performance can be found on my CD, "Works of Larry Hoffman / Contemporary American Music.

This is my latest quartet (2023). Although many of my works are blues-oriented, this one was done especially in honor of my very first string quartet, which was one of the very first pieces that affirmed my goals.

This one, however, is my favorite.

I came to the creation of this work from my studies of music in the 15th and 16th centuries. Quodlibets were enjoyable works featuring the combination of sometimes disparate elements. 

Quodlibet, (Latin: “what you will”) musical composition in which several well-known melodies are combined, either simultaneously or, less frequently, sequentially, for humorous effect. Quodlibet can also refer to an amalgamation of different song texts in a vocal composition.

This is the work that marked my return to composition after a long absence during which I became a blues journalist and record producer. It was a wonderful leap into a music that had meant so much to me earlier in my life and career. I traveled the country, hearing and meeting bluesmen and women, writing about them, and sometimes discovering them, helping them jump-start a career.

Along the way I garnered a Grammy nomination, and awards for producing and writing about the blues internationally.

In my second string quartet I presented the blues in four keys-- first separately, then simultaneously--coming together in a four-voice fugue in which each instrument presented a blues sequence in its own key. It is rigorously controlled, presenting dissonant collisions, each resolving in a unique way. In the center there is a development section that presents some wonderful opportunities.

This recorded performance was executed perfectly and most expressively by the Dover Quartet, early in their career when they were the first resident string quartet at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music. The extraordinary Dover Quartet has deservedly won the most impressive of awards, and been hailed by perhaps every major publication worldwide.

Dover not only recorded the work but premiered it as well. That afternoon performance remains one of my most touching moments as a composer.

"String Quartet No.3: Mo'Better Blues" opens with a long set of bluesy variations, each unfolding in an improvisatory manner. Towards the center-end there is an atonal episode that is strong and declamatory , lending an air of strength and vigor to the affair. The closing unites both temperments.

My friend, Milena, iconic violist of the Dover Quartet remarked how much she liked the piece.

In my fourth quartet I was interested in creating a string quartet that explored radically different moods. -- more free-form and exuberant than other of my works. The first movement is wild and exuberant - free and confident. The second movement, one of aching and pleading. -- bordering on the melancholy, and perhaps a reconsideration of the abandonment of movement I. In movement III a sweet consensus is reached: get funky and enjoy. And finally, a prayer.

2020 was a very challenging year for most of us. In the midst of the pandemic, the unrest leading to unspeakable violence, economic peril and joblessness, there was also the bright light of hope that showed through the cracks in the darkness. This, my latest work, is the result of that dichotomy.

When I was fifteen, my folk trio had the honor of opening for iconic folksinger/ songwriter/ guitarist Elizabeth Cotten.

I learned to fingerpick on guitar by learning this famous song from her first Lp record. This was one of the first songs I sang and played on the guitar using her famous "Cotten pick" finger technique. As the years went by, and I began composing, I badly wanted to create an homage to her and that famous song that had meant so much to me--- a version that might take its place in the classical repertory. This was the inspiration for this string quartet. I hope that it communicates the beautiful simplicity and universality of the song written by the late Ms. Cotten-- it is without question a true American masterpiece. Currently it is expecting a premiere in Ms. Cotten's home state of North Carolina.

In this quartet I tried to unite blues ambience with obvious romanticism--a  touch akin to a jazz ballad, or a sweeping nocturne. I extended harmonies in a traditional way, but one never found in blues. I particularly like this work in that I linked the ambience that might be found in ''World War II movies" with contemporary blues: at least that was the idea!

I have always loved ragtime. As a student in the conservatory I was awarded a large version of the Scott Joplin stamp-- an event presided over by the Postmaster General, in celebration of the work I was doing with black music and young black musicians. I know how Mr. Joplin felt when his musical gems were considered merely confections, despite the composer's creation of operas, and his studies at a conservatory. I felt the greatness of those works and of the composer's spirit. I composed this in veneration of Mr. Joplin and his many works.

Ann Charters, celebrated ragtime pianist and ragtime expert-- the wife of icon Sam Charters wrote :

“I especially enjoyed CHIMERA RAG because while it had the charming link in structure to classic ragtime, your melodies & arrangement made it an original work of your own. Don’t stop composing, Larry. You possess a unique talent & your listeners look forward to hearing more!”