Sir Thomas Beecham had a long association with the works of Richard Strauss, to the extent that Strauss once told him, "What you have done for my works in England cannot be sufficiently appreciated." SOMM Recordings pays tribute to this collaboration between two musical giants of the early twentieth century-and throws in an early nineteenth-century powerhouse for good measure-with the release of Beecham Conducts R. Strauss and Beethoven. This is the 33rd edition of SOMM's long-running and acclaimed series The Beecham Collection, and it marks the 70th anniversary of two remarkable recordings from 1956. Once again, audio engineer Lani Spahr brings his depth of musicality and technical expertise to these newly restored masterworks. In addition to his determined efforts to put Strauss's operas on the London stage-beginning with conducting the British premiere of Strauss's opera Elektra in 1910-Beecham was enthusiastic about Strauss's tone poems. Ein Heldenleben, in particular, became something of a calling card for him. In 1947, he made a studio recording of the tone poem with the recently established Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A few weeks after his death in 1961, his 1958 stereo recording of Ein Heldenleben was released. The present live recording comes from an all-Strauss concert given at the Royal Festival Hall on 17 October 1956. The first half of the programme included MacBeth, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and the Dance of the Seven Veils, which SOMM released in 2023 (ARIADNE 5021). The second half, heard here, was devoted to Ein Heldenleben. Strauss's eighth tone poem is considered somewhat autobiographical despite his insistence that the hero was "not a single poetical or historical figure, but rather a more general and free ideal of great and manly heroism." It traces the dramatic arc of the hero's life through his adversaries and his companion; at battle and in peace; and it closes with his retirement from this world. Contemporary critics of Beecham's rapturously received 1956 performance were fulsome in their praise, one noting that "the epilogue was played with such tenderness as to bring tears to the eyes," and another that "this is how Strauss can sound when conducted with musical sensibility deepened by experience." Beecham's relationship with Ludwig van Beethoven was rather more ambivalent. Although he performed several of Beethoven's symphonies regularly, his recordings were more sporadic and he never completed a full cycle. SOMM is fortunate and proud to present here Beecham's exciting, fleet-footed interpretation of the Eighth Symphony, recorded at the Festival Hall on 12 December 1956. His performance brings energy and a sense of fun to the work, which musicologist Nigel Simeone describes as the "wittiest of the Beethoven symphonies."

Romanticism had many faces. Mozart's spirit still floated through musical life, and Beethoven's mighty music set the benchmark for every Romantic composer. Mozart's legacy was carried forward by two great pianists: Hummel, a pupil of Mozart, and Ries, a pupil of Beethoven. They each steered Romanticism in a different direction. Newspapers across Europe wrote of the 'wild Romanticism' of the bohemian Ries, now seen as a forerunner of Schumann. Meanwhile, the virtuoso Hummel enchanted and astonished his audiences. Around 1815, at the time of the Congress of Vienna, he was the most famous pianist in the world, and Liszt was crazy about his music. Schubert, by contrast, was the creator and embodiment of personal expressiveness in the Romantic era. He performed only in private circles and had no interest in empty virtuosity, even though he was a superb pianist whose instrument, according to contemporaries, would sing under his hands. This new recording presents the Piano Quartet in G major by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837), the Piano Quartet in F minor by Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838), and the Adagio & Rondo Concertante by Franz Schubert (1797-1828).

SOMM Recordings presents an intriguing pairing of chamber works that share the unusual and expressive instrumentation of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass: Johann Nepomuk Hummel's 'Military' Quintet in C major and Franz Schubert's Piano Quintet�in�A major, his Trout Quintet. Extraordinarily, this is a first recording of Hummel's 'Military' Quintet.' It is an amazing find by the virtuoso double-bass player Leon Bosch, Artistic Director of the mixed-instrument chamber ensemble I Musicanti,�with whom he performs here. They're joined by Peter Donohoe, laureate of the Tchaikovsky Competition and acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time. Johann Nepomuk Hummel's gift as a composer was matched by his excellence as a pianist. A child prodigy, Hummel was taught and housed by Mozart for two years, and he studied further with Clementi, Haydn, Albrechtsberger, and Salieri. Hummel's mastery as a pianist and his compositional personality, admired by Liszt, shine through in his two piano septets featuring winds, brass, and strings, which he also arranged for a combination not uncommon at the time of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. It was in October 1829, nearly a year after Schubert's death, that Hummel completed�his 'Military' Piano Septet No. 2. For publication in Vienna the following year, he also prepared a piano quintet version, again arranged for that ensemble of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass.�The Septet's scoring-for piano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, cello, and double bass- already included four of the five of those instruments, so in effect�the alternate version redistributes the wind and brass parts among four strings with added viola. It is this version that receives it's premiere recording on this release. Franz Schubert's Trout Quintet came about during a walking holiday in the Alps in 1819, when he made the acquaintance of Sylvester Paumgartner, an amateur cellist who promoted chamber concerts in his home. He greatly admired Schubert's lied, Die Forelle ("The Trout"), and he commissioned a set of variations based on the song's melody. At the time, Paumgartner had brought together a group of musicians to perform Hummel's Piano Quintet in E flat minor-the arrangement Hummel made of his first piano septet-and suggested that Schubert write his new variations for that same quintet ensemble of pianist, violinist, violist, cellist, and double bass player. Schubert being Schubert, he not only composed a set of five variations on Die Forelle, but he created a five-movement quintet that featured the variations as the fourth movement of a work that has become one of the most renowned and beloved in the chamber repertoire. It is Schubert's first mature chamber work. He was twenty-two years old.

On this recording, the piano quintet led by violinist and conductor Remy Ballot juxtaposes Franz Schubert's famous Trout Quintet with Johann Nepomuk Hummel's much less frequently heard Piano Quintet, composed almost 20 years earlier. What both quintets have in common (apart from the fact that they remained unpublished for several years after completion) is the fact that they were - according to the contemporary convention - still scored for double bass, which would usually become replaced by a second violin in the later course of music history. Yoko Urata-Fog, piano, Remy Ballot, violin, Iris Ballot, viola, Jorgen Fog, cello and Manfred Hecking, double bass, impress with their uncompromising musicality and unpretentious playing, which brings out the diverse layers of sound in a unique, almost analytical way, and prove the point that after many dozens of recordings of "The Trout" (yet far less of the Hummel quintet), there still remains something genuine to be expressed with these "Classics".

TRUMPET RHAPSODY TIMOFEI DOKS

WORKS FOR PIANOFORTE

As a composer Hummel stood between different eras. His compositions span all the contemporary forms of music except for the symphony. He was foremost among the composers who sought to preserve the classical style and refused to tread the new paths opened by Beethoven.

For the present-day listener the various musical currents prevalent in Beethoven‘s day need no longer exclude each other. Unhampered by strong emotions or the obligation to take sides, we can – depending on expertise or mood – savor his music either in a totally unprejudiced way or with the detachment with which one views events long past. And to let oneself be captivated by Hummel‘s chamber music can be a singularly agreeable and rewarding experience no matter whether one is motivated by a desire to gain a deeper understanding of historical connections or by the wish to simply enjoy good music.

Hummel left us eight works written for the piano trio group. A first work has not been included in this selection, as only the works which the composer himself described as “piano trios” were chosen for this recording. With the exception of one piece we do not know when these works were composed. For chronological information we must therefore rely on the dates of the first editions or of reviews.

According to his biographers, the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) left an extensive oeuvre that includes numerous sonatas for flute and piano. That is true, but not altogether. The statement actually ought to be '... sonatas for piano and flute.' That may seem to be splitting hairs, but the reason for the correction becomes immediately evident when one listens to this effervescent new recording by Rainer Gepp (piano) and Christiane Meininger (flute). The piano does not modestly remain in the background and merely accompany the flute, but enjoys equal status with it.

Howard Shelley and the London Mozart Players, one of the UK's most distinguished chamber orchestras, have recorded many works by Hummel. Chandos has been renowned for championing Hummel's music since the premiere recordings of his piano concertos in 1987 received the Gramophone 'concerto' award. The company's exposure of this increasingly admired composer has ensured that he is finally beginning to enjoy the popularity he deserves. 'Shelley...is outstanding in this music, synthesizing the classical and romantic elements perfectly. A natural Mozartian, he allies his poise and clarity to a fearless technique, and absorbs Hummel's most ostentatious demands into the musical fabric, giving the decorative solo part the necessary grace and piquancy.' - Gramophone 'Critics Choice' of January 2000 on CHAN9867 (Hummel)

PIANO WORKS

Dorothea Seel has engaged intensively both with the instruments and also with the playing techniques and sound aesthetics of 19th-century flutes and presented her findings in her artistic and scientific dissertation "Der Diskurs um den Klang der Fl�te i'm 19. Jahrhundert" ("the discourse about the sound of the flute in the 19th century", Kunstuniversit�t Graz 2017, in preparation for publication). Evaluation of teaching works put her on the track of forgotten playing techniques. These practices, many of which would meet with the disapproval of modern-day exponents, include overlapping of notes, a glissando effect that the keys of modern instruments no longer permit. Dorothea Seel uses this and other techniques on the present recording. In congenial partnership with Christoph Hammer, she also sheds new light on the extraordinarily varied sound world of the 19th century and puts proven theory into virtuoso practice. She challenges the conventions that govern our listening and admirably illustrates the potential of research-based period performance practice. Above all, however, the works of Johann Nepomuk Hummel sound so utterly new, fresh and stimulating.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

"Howard Shelley has made a project of recording Hummel’s eight piano concertos. This C-Major concerto is the composer’s first mature work in this genre, written in 1809—the same year that Beethoven wrote his “Emperor” concerto. There are surface resemblances between the two concertos. In their outer movements, we catch a whiff of the military parade ground (if not the battlefield). The middle movements are long-breathed songs of limpid beauty. Of course, the difference between the two is that Beethoven’s concerto is surprising and innovative, while Hummel’s is (for the most part) safe and rather predictable. Let’s face it, though: aren’t there times when you are relieved by things that are safe and predictable?

The Rondos brilliant date from approximately 1814 and 1822, respectively. Each is just over 16 minutes long. The first one is musique pour les dames, and the second is based on Russian folk material. (Hummel was touring Russia when he wrote it.) If the relatively lengthy C-Major concerto (34:49) is a panoramic canvas, these two works are concertos in miniature—perfectly formed, thoughtfully appointed, and precise... Shelley’s performances, leading the London Mozart Players from the keyboard of a Steinway concert grand, do not attempt to make Hummel into the firebrand that he was not. This is stylish, always genteel playing, reminding us that Hummel was a young protégé of Mozart. Although Hummel’s slow movements sometimes anticipate Chopin, particularly in the decoration of the piano part, that sort of pre-Romantic freedom is not emphasized here. The musicianship overall is small-scaled, but not disappointingly so. Chandos’s engineering is bright, and Derek Carew’s booklet notes are informative."

Raymond Tuttle, FANFARE

Recorded in: St Silas The Martyr, Kentish Town, London 1-2 April 1998 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Jonathan Cooper Richard Smoker (Assistant)

Howard Shelley and the London Mozart Players present the latest in his series of Hummel works for Chandos and on this occasion shows a less-known side to Hummel's compositional style: that of dance-composer. All three works receive their premiere recordings with this release.

The first instalment in a new series, Hummel's Masses,Opp 77 and 111. These are choral Masses and with Hickox's magnificently drilled Collegium Musicum 90 forces, there is never a moment when you miss the presence of solo voices. Gramophone Award for the best Choral recording of the year 2003.

Classical Music

Franz Hummel was the first composer after Beethoven to use Anton Diabelli’s famous theme as the basis for an extended solo piano work. + These variations are like a humorous, tongue-in-cheek chronicle of music, and some stylistic quotations offer a challenge, as in a musical quiz, to guess who could possibly have written which variation. + Angela Cholakian is regarded as one of the most passionate and original pianists playing the romantic and contemporary literature. + With phenomenal technique she effortlessly puts into practice all that her obsessive imagination demands of her.

I felt it was necessary to dedicate a new anthem to the Bavarians, to express their liberality and the modern Bavarian way of life. The rhymed verses that I have set to music are based on a few lines jotted down by King Ludwig Ii, who resembled today's view of the imaginative Bavarian in an astoundingly prophetic way.' - Franz Hummel.