HUMMEL
Piano Sonatas (Hyperion)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

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A composer of twenty-five sonatas, Czech born Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) fell into the seat of immortality with ease. He studied under Mozart in Vienna at eight, only to return to his home of Bratislava to embrace composition with Salieri and Hayden. It was in his precocious teens when Hummel was considered one of the premier pianists in world.

As the middle piece in this CD set, Hummel's Piano Sonata in D Major stands out as a thoughtful, challenging piece of music, at once overjoyed with rich bounding energy and wan with reflection. Like in a breezy fall afternoon, it possesses an urgency to go out and play before the inevitable frost settles in and the breeze becomes a gale wind. Its rapid passages balance with exquisite ease - especially between "Un scherzo all'antico" and "Larghetto a capriccio" and the resulting force is a most unforgettable recording session.

The presentation by Stephen Hough is seamless, impassioned and the album's engineering brings that performance through in impeccable tones: it feels so close and intimate the isolation of recorded music falls away. Without falter, Hough owns these pieces, selected to trace the composer's development into maturity, and onto them he leaves his unique stamp.

© 2004 - Erick Mertz