Johann Nepomuk Hummel
(14 November 1778 – 17 October 1837) was a contemporary of Beethoven; one of those figures whose music is exceptionally tuneful, inventive and accomplished – yet who is too often overlooked in favour of his more illustrious contemporaries.
Grand Rondeau Brillant pour Pianoforte et Violon, Op,126
Luigi Alberto Bianchi (violin), Aldo Orvieto (piano), written: 1834, Weimar, Germany
His solo piano music - of which we hear a good sample here - has the depth and beauty of that written either by a young Schubert in imitation of Mozart or as a romantic Mozart would have done. Nor can we help but think of Chopin - and even Beethoven and Schumann - when listening to Hummel’s piano music. It’s calm, centred, studied, graceful and free. Yet it is at the same time disciplined and always leading somewhere significant.
Hummel’s somewhat cosmopolitan and colourful compositions draw on a variety of styles; it may not be too fanciful to attribute these in part to the composer’s origins. He was born in Bratislava and for the first years of his life was exposed to the cultural preoccupations and priorities of Hungarians, Slovaks, and Austrians. Hummel spent time in Vienna and London, where he studied with Mozart, Haydn, Salieri; then with Clementi. Appearing throughout northern Europe as a child prodigy, Hummel also became friends with Beethoven and knew Albrechtsberger. Indeed, he took Haydn’s place at Eisenstadt until he was dismissed in 1811 – his heart did not really seem to be in what was asked of him there.
It surely has not helped Hummel’s acceptance and reputation that he has often been mischaracterised as a rather ‘slight’ composer of superficial salon music - of music which places bravura over substance. So this CD oughts to do much to offer a fairer and more accurate assessment. It will surely also help listeners with ears to hear satisfy themselves that Hummel’s is music worthy of close attention for what it is, not for which genre it may or may not belong to.” (music web international)