MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively Crotchet

Johann Nepomuk HUMMEL (1778-1837)
Le retour de Londres – Grand Rondeau brilliant, Op.127 (1833) [14:51]
Variations and Finale in B flat major, Op.115 (1830) [15:58]
Oberons Zauberhorn, Op.116 (1829) [18:47]
Variations in F major, Op.97 (1820) [17:07]
Christopher Hinterhuber (piano)
Gävle Symphony Orchestra/Uwe Grodd
rec. Gävle Concert Hall, Gävle, Sweden, 16-20 January 2006.
NAXOS 8.557845 [66:44]


Recorded a matter of days after their most recent Ries disc, Christopher Hinterhuber and Uwe Grodd give us what, I hope, is the first in a series of Hummel albums.  There are no concertos here, but this collection of four concert pieces for piano and orchestra dating from 1820 to 1833 makes for an attractive programme.  Hummel’s virtuosic music calls for finesse rather than barnstorming, and these cultivated artists know just how to play it.
 
The disc opens with the last of the works to be composed, the Grand Rondeau brilliant – given the title Le retour de Londres in the published score, but referred to as Le retour ā Lourdes in a letter to Moscheles.  What’s in a name?  This is no tone poem depicting place; rather, it is a first class vehicle for expressive pianism.  The piece opens with a long-breathed introduction of imposing grandeur before Hummel blows the clouds away with a fresh breezy rondeau, full of smiles, sparkle and spice.  Hinterhuber trots stylishly and at a well judged pace through the virtuosic writing and the orchestra under Grodd is sympathetically supportive.
 
The longest piece in the programme, Oberons Zauberhorn, is something of a tone poem in the form of a free fantasia.  It was inspired by Weber’s opera Oberon but quotes very little of the opera’s musical material: Hummel uses little more than Weber’s horn-call motif and in any case he more-or-less composes his own.  The piece is musically and dramatically satisfying, veering from an atmosphere of mystery to an ebullient march; from a fierce summer storm to a joyful close.
 
The Variations and Finale in B flat major begin with a grand, almost tragic larghetto before Hummel states his theme, a simple song from the Berlin stage.  What he does with the tune, though, is anything but simple.  Hummel reminds us in these variations of his extraordinary improvisatory facility.  They are far from simple elaborations, but are ceaselessly charming.  The earlier Variations in F major which bring the disc to a close are more formally structured, with the theme stated at the outset and the orchestra linking the variations.  I have to confess it is my least favourite of the pieces on this disc.  It seems stiff after the greater fluidity of Hummel's conception in the three pieces that precede it.  At 17 minutes, it also seems overlong.  That said, there is certainly nothing wrong with Hinterhuber's playing or the stylish accompaniment.
 
Allan Badley again contributes a thoughtful set of liner notes and the recorded sound at this venue is as good as ever.
 
Naxos already has an old ex-Marco Polo recording of Hummel’s two most famous piano concertos, his Op.85 and Op.89, on its books.  Perhaps now is the time for them to re-record these pieces along with the rest of Hummel’s half dozen or so piano concertos and other concertante works.  It would be next to impossible for anyone to surpass Stephen Hough in Op.85 and Op.89 (CHAN 8507), but on the evidence of this disc Hinterhuber and Grodd have something to say about Hummel and it is something worth hearing.
 
Tim Perry
 



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.