To the extent most of us today are familiar with Hummel, it's primarily
as a piano composer: his sonatas and sonatinas still serve as
teaching pieces, while his piano concertos have received more
recent recorded attention. To encounter him as a composer of
symphonic ballets, then, comes as a bit of a shock. The two
ballet scores represented here were apparently composed for
the dancer-choreographer Giulio Vigaṇ, the brother of Salvatore
Vigaṇ, for whom Beethoven wrote The Creatures of Prometheus.
Stylistically, these scores are also something of a surprise.
Where Hummel's linear piano writing and clean textures constitute
an exemplar of Classical clarity, these ballets incorporate
both forward- and backward-looking elements, now juxtaposing
them, now blending them.
Thus, the opening tutti of Sappho von Mitilene is firm
and proclamatory in the Classical manner, but the brass is more
prominent than it would be, say, in Beethoven - indeed, throughout
the score, the brasses sound unusually "present" in
supporting chords. The Allegretto (track 6) has a recognizably
Classical structure, its recurring march theme alternating with
more smoothly lyrical material, and the drone bass of the Pastorale
(track 9) underlines a kinship with country-dance models. "La
furia" (track 11) supports busy string and woodwind
activity with a rigorous rhythmic framework. On the other hand,
the horn solo in the Larghetto (track 8) suggests Weber,
while the English horn in Madame Vigaṇ's solo (track 4) evokes
an operatic aria. The oboe's graceful, sinuous waltz in the
Andante maestoso (track 11) foreshadows similar melodies
in the great Romantic ballets of Tchaikovsky and Delibes.
From the start, Das Zauberschloss veers explicitly into the
programmatic and pictorial, with its pastoral woodwind duets
and ominous fanfares. Later, a series of courtly-sounding dances
evokes medieval models while serving a function analogous to
that of "characteristic dances" in the big popular
ballets, while the score's closing section fairly bristles with
forward energy. The Twelve Waltzes and Coda anticipate the symphonic
waltzes of the Strauss family. After an opening trumpet fanfare,
calling the listener to attention, there follows a series of
brief dances, each less than a minute in length, capped by a
rousing coda.
Don't let all the discussion of various stylistic fingerprints obscure
the fact that this well-wrought, substantial music is unfailingly
tuneful and engaging. These scores are not "light"
or "Pops" fare, but transitional works in the development
of ballet which repay listening.
Howard Shelley realizes both the Classical and Romantic aspects of
this music superbly, firmly etching its rhythmic and harmonic
contours while allowing the broad singing melodies room to expand
lyrically, though his generous rubato in the clarinet's rustic
theme of the Twelve Waltzes and Coda belies its presumed purpose
as dance music. The tuttis, especially in the
codas, go with a hurtling, airborne momentum. The London Mozart
Players sound surprisingly large as recorded, but their playing
is refined and suave; the oboe makes particularly delicate,
piquant contributions.
Chandos provides its favored long resonance, which may produce harsh
or opaque results on some equipment. The ambience doesn't obscure
important musical detail, however, and the "big" recorded
sound reinforces the impression of these as robust, Romantic
scores.
Stephen Francis Vasta
London Mozart Players/Howard Shelley
