Hummel was a virtuoso pianist who in 1813 at the time of his
marriage to the singer, Elizabeth Röckel was intent on a
career as a composer. She persuaded him to continue playing and
effectively became his manager. Nevertheless he also composed
extensively in all the usual formats, with works for the piano
being only a relatively small part of his output. The concertos
and sonatas are becoming reasonably well-known but his fantasies
are rarities on disc. The present recording of Op.123 is a world
première. Although they were considered revolutionary
at the time, a couple of centuries on it is a little hard to
see why.
The G minor Fantasie is in five short movements with an underlying
hunting theme and is partly based on material from Cornish ballads.
Frankly, I found this rather banal but the disc does get better
as it goes on. The E flat Fantasie is the earliest and most extended
work. If the four movements are structured like a sonata, freedoms
within them justify the classification. The second movement Larghetto
e cantabile is notably touching. Here Hummel was competing with
Beethoven in his prime and, although he wasn’t winning,
this was more due to lack of real innovation than lack of ideas
or compositional mastery. The Rondo quasi una fantasia is grander
in gesture but more concise in form. The other works are also
fairly short and immediately attractive. La contemplazione is
particularly melodious and the Paganini recollections imaginative,
drawing on the 9th and 11th caprices, his first two violin concertos
and 7th guitar quartet. “Non piu andrai” is the most
famous aria from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Hummel,
a master improviser in his time, provided a tantalizing and refreshing
take which concludes the disc on a high note.
If the music is of variable quality, the playing of the young
Japanese pianist Madoka Inui is not. She proves a very reliable
guide, relishing the freedom of expression inherent in the music
without ever overdoing it. She plays a Bösendorfer and is
most naturally recorded. There is good documentation although
it would have been nice to know what relation the artist of The
Granite Dish in the Pleasure Garden on the front cover was to
the composer – i.e. Johann E. Hummel (1769-1852) – perhaps
an older brother?
For me, Hummel’s piano sonatas are of considerably more
interest than the music played here. I hope Naxos will complete
their sonata series before too long. Nevertheless there is enough
here that is pleasurable to justify the modest cost and Madoka
Inui is a name to watch out for.
Patrick C Waller
Madoka Inui (piano)
