Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a pupil of Mozart. A child prodigy himself, he developed a highly virtuoso technique on the piano, and built an impressive career as one of the most famous and sought after pianists and composers of early 19th century Europe. Even today some of his piano works offer a serious challenge to professional pianists. Hummels piano trios are composed in the classical Viennese style, but offer already hints of romantic drama and passion. The instrumental writing is of the highest order for all three instruments. The piano trios are delightful works full of brilliant virtuosity, charm and wit.

Dedicated to Tsar Alexander I and his family, this album of chamber music by Western European musicians presents the musical activities of the Russian court at the beginning of the 19th century. The Pleyel Trio, made up of Russia's best period instrument players, dynamically captures the various aspects of classical musicians, from composers active in Russia such as Hessler to Hummel, who made an enthusiastic tour of Russia, and Beethoven, who dedicated works in Vienna.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was one of the finest composers bridging the gap between the Classical and Romantic eras. His teachers included Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, and Hummel learned his lessons very well. His music is notable for its harmonious treatments, expert architecture and never-ending string of attractive melodies.

Between any composer's Op. 5 and his Op. 104 there is likely to be, and indeed should be, a considerable distance in style; in Hummel's case, the two examples on this record link the world of classicism in which he grew up and the new Romantic currents that were to carry him in novel directions. Well, fairly novel directions. The Viola Sonata breathes the whole world of Mozart and Haydn, both of whom taught him, as well as that of his other teachers, Salieri and Albrechtsberger. In the Adagio there is an ease of melody and a skill in handling the material that makes up for the enjoyable but slightly predictable opening movement and balances with the easy-going finale.

The Mass in E flat was most likely composed for the 1804 Marienfest in Eisenstadt, an annual event celebrated with great pomp and splendor to honor the Fürstin Maria's name day, usually on the weekend following the Mariä Geburt observance (September 8). For the Marienfest, the Fürst usually hosted a banquet, a ball, and a concert, in addition to a military parade and fireworks. He also commissioned a new Mass each year (the late masses of Haydn and the Mass in C of Beethoven owe their existence to the Marienfest).

Today, with authenticity a crucial concern in musical performance, the idea of arranging piano concertos by Mozart for chamber forces seems almost bizarre. But in the 1830s, when the publisher Schott commissioned Johann Nepomuk Hummel to produce these versions of seven of Mozart’s most popular concertos for piano, flute, violin and cello, it was a common practice aimed at facilitating performances of orchestral works in domestic settings. And few could have brought such insights to the procedure as Hummel, one of the earliest protagonists on the stage of the virtuoso era, but also regarded by his contemporaries as the last legitimate representative of the ‘classical’ style.

Howard Shelley’s light touch, fresh and colourful orchestral playing, and excellent recording, make this very well worth hearing on its own account, not simply as a rediscovered rarity.

This program is simply delicious As with other releases in this series, Howard Shelley plays Hummel with elegance and flair. Much of this music, particularly in the shorter concert works, is very brilliant and highly decorative, but Shelley never makes you feel as though it consists of empty note-spinning. The London Mozart Players accompany sensitively and with aplomb. A good time was clearly had by all, including the engineers, who provide vivid sonics.

Hummel's choral music, like that of his rival Beethoven, lies pretty far down the list of his compositions in terms of overall renown. But some of it originated in a very famous spot: Hummel succeeded Haydn as a composer of large-scale choral works for the use of the noble Esterházy family at its vast palace. The Mass in D minor heard on this album was composed in 1805, when the "Lord Nelson" mass in the same key by Haydn would still have been very much in the air and ears at Esterháza. Faced with the unenviable task of trying to top it, Hummel turned not to Haydn as a model but, as liner-note writer David Wyn Jones points out, to Mozart: the Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor provides Hummel's mass with its tense general mood, its flexible shifts between the soloists and the larger group, and its flashes of lyrical light.

As with the previous disc in this series, Richard Hickox and his expert forces bring their usual mix of freshness, rhythmic élan and sensitivity to this attractive, often impressive work. Choir and orchestra respond eagerly to the conductor's enthusiastic direction. And the soloists, led by the ever-eloquent Susan Gritton, interact and blend with true chamber musical finesse.

It is astonishing that such fine pieces have been so completely neglected.They here inspire Hickox and his team to performances just as electrifying as those they have given of the great series of late Haydn masses.

The three sonatas Stephen Hough has selected for this recital not only reveal Johann Nepomuk Hummel as a plausible "missing link" between Beethoven and Chopin, but also as a formidable, creative force in his own right. Maybe he's not so memorable a melodist as Chopin nor a protean architect on the level of Beethoven, but Hummel's piano writing still sounds idiomatic and invigorating to modern ears. It's also quite difficult. The F-sharp minor sonata's dramatic finale, for instance, allows little respite from its unrelenting broken octaves, taxing runs, and double notes, while the gnarly dotted rhythms, imitative writing, and thick chords permeating the D major sonata's Scherzo evoke the Schumann to come. No matter how difficult the music, Stephen Hough's effortless technique and eloquent, characterful musicality make everything sound easy. What's more, he never sacrifices power for speed. Listen for example to the way he gives the challenging, spiraling triplets in the F minor sonata's finale their full dynamic due, maintaining a full, tonally varied sonority with virtually no help from the sustain pedal. In sum, it will take a heap of work and tons of inspiration for future pianists to match Hough's reference standards here. This is a valuable release and a joyous listening experience all in one: don't miss it.

Shelley is outstanding in this music, blending classical and Romantic elements perfectly.
These two concertos are wonderfully infectious. The E major occupies a kind of bridge between Mozart and Chopin, although Mozart's depth and subtlety are in a different vein. Hummel is more of a show-off, and his music almost smiles at you, its charm and sparkle eschewing any pretentiousness. Throughout, Shelley conveys the music's joie de vivre, revelling in the figurative passagework. The Double Concerto may have been inspired by Mozart's Sinfonia concertante, K365; it doesn't have the same harmonic or lyrical variety as the E-major Concerto, but it's a charming work, especially when so persuasively played. Shelley's well-proportioned piano part is perfectly complemented by Hagai Shaham's sweet-toned violin.

In 1819 composer and publisher Anton Diabelli got the idea to invite composers from the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire to compose variations on a waltz by his own hand. This was meant to be a monument of the musical art of his time, and a money maker for his publishing house. A lot of composers, 51 in total, answered to his request, and sent their variations, among whom celebrities like Liszt, Schubert, Hummel, Kalkbrenner, Moscheles. The most famous composer of the time, Ludwig van Beethoven, first rejected the idea in scorn, later however wrote his immense Opus 120, comprising no less than 33 variations on the theme, thus outpassing his “competitors” by an immeasurable degree in both invention and profundity.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837) der als Wunderkind von sieben Jahren Meisterschüler Mozarts, 1804 noch unter Haydn Konzertmeister im Schloß Eszterhazy wurde und sein Leben als Kapellmeister in Weimar beendete, ist heute vor allem durch sein berühmtes Trompetenkonzert bekannt. Sein umfangreiches Schaffen ist leider fast völlig vergessen, auch wenn insbesondere seine damals regelrecht avantgardistischen Klavierkonzerte und Teile seiner Kammermusik seit einiger Zeit wieder vermehrt auf das Interesse von Musikern stoßen. Die Opern und Chorwerke harren noch ihrer Wiederbelebung.