Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Piano Concertos Nos. 1a & 5; Gesellschafts Rondo (Howard Shelley)

Information

Composer: Johann Nepomuk Hummel

1. Piano Concerto No. 1a in G major, Op. 73: I. Allegro moderato
2. Piano Concerto No. 1a in G major, Op. 73: II. Andante grazioso
3. Piano Concerto No. 1a in G major, Op. 73: III. Rondo
4. Piano Concerto No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 113: I. Allegro moderato
5. Piano Concerto No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 113: II. Romanze. Larghetto con moto -
6. Piano Concerto No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 113: III. Rondo alla Spagniola. Allegro moderato
7. Gesellschafts Rondo in B minor, Op. 117

London Mozart Players
Howard Shelley, piano & conductor

Date: 1997
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%209558

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Review

This admirable recital forms a sequel to Stephen Hough's Gramophone Award-winning Chandos disc of the A minor and B minor Piano Concertos (4/87). And although the music is less enticing and substantial, the performances less exuberantly virtuosic and elegantly inflected, these are decorous rarities played with an assured brilliance and affection. Hummel's Mozartian rather than Chopinesque bias declares itself most obviously in his Op. 73 Concertino, though even here, at 315" for example, the figuration has a recognizably Hummelian froth and sparkle. Too charming to be vacuous, such surface brio has little in common with Mozart's depth and subtlety, and for music of greater romantic range and ambition we turn to the A flat Concerto (music briefly in Jorge Bolet's repertoire), with its fuller scoring and lavishly decorated solo part. Lovers of a finespun, operatic cantilena will warm to the central "Romanze" and find the final Rondo alla Spagniola, even when it outstays its welcome, more than a prophecy of Chopin's E minor Concerto.

The Gesellschafts Rondo (offered here in a premiere recording) commences in solemn Adagio vein before turning to a more typically bustling and ceremonious Vivace. It may be that Hummel "puffed, blew and perspired" when he played but he won the admiration of Chopin (a hard master to please and one who turned Hummel's animation to rare poetic advantage) and his sheer style is infectious when projected with such unfailing expertise by Howard Shelley in his dual role as pianist and conductor of the London Mozart Players. The recordings are exceptionally well balanced, the acoustic pleasingly spacious.

-- Gramophone [1/1995]

More reviews:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hummel-Concerto-A-Flat-Concertino-Gesellschafts-Rondo/dp/B001MV39CC
http://www.amazon.com/Hummel-Concerto-Concertino-Gesellschafts-Rondo-Shelley/dp/B000000B1L

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Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 1778 – 17 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist, whose music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. Hummel was taught and housed by Mozart for two years, and later studied with Albrechtsberger, Haydn and Salieri. His main oeuvre is for the piano, on which instrument he was one of the great virtuosi of his day. Later 19th century pianistic technique was influenced by Hummel, through his instruction of Carl Czerny who later taught Liszt. Hummel's influence can also be seen in the early works of Chopin and Schumann.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Nepomuk_Hummel

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Howard Shelley (born 9 March 1950) is a British pianist and conductor. He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. As pianist he has performed, broadcast and recorded around the world with leading orchestras and conductors. He made many recordings for Chandos, Hyperion and EMI, including Rachmaninov's complete piano music and concertos. As a conductor, he has held positions of Associate and Principal Guest Conductor with the London Mozart Players in a close relationship of over twenty years. He has appeared regularly on television and on the soundtrack of several films.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Shelley

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