Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Piano Concertos Op. posth. 1 & WoO 24; Variations Op. 97 (Howard Shelley)

Information

Composer: Johann Nepomuk Hummel

• (01-03) Piano Concerto in F major, Op. posth. 1
• (04-11) Variations for piano & orchestra in F major, Op. 97
• (12-14) Piano Concerto in A major, WoO 24, S. 4

London Mozart Players
Howard Shelley, piano & conductor

Date: 2001
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%209886

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Review

PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****

Although his later keyboard style prefigures Chopin, Mozart’s favourite pupil remained at heart an elegant Classicist; and by 1833, the year he premiered his last Piano Concerto in London, his music had come to seem hopelessly behind the times. Despite original touches like the dramatic, off-key piano entry (a Hummel speciality) and the doleful bassoon/cello duet in the slow movement, the F major Concerto tends to sound like Mozart grown prolix and faintly decadent, with the gracefully balanced themes overrun by flashy piano figuration. In the two earlier works Hummel filches from his former teacher with cheerful abandon: the perky, square-cut theme of the variations, for instance, is a cross between the finale of Mozart’s dubious wind Sinfonia concertante and Papageno’s ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’, while the first movement of the A major Concerto (probably dating from Hummel’s teens) shamelessly cribs from, inter alia, the finale of the Clarinet Trio. Still, if you don’t mind a sense of déjà entendu, you’ll find plenty to enjoy in Hummel’s ornate, urbanely crafted music. As ever, Howard Shelley proves a supremely eloquent advocate of the composer, with his refined, shapely phrasing, crystalline textures and aristocratic command of the glittering keyboard pyrotechnics.

-- Richard Wigmore, BBC Music Magazine

More reviews:
http://www.classicalcdreview.com/hum.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Hummel-Piano-Concertos-Theme-Varioations/dp/B000059LXQ

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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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