6 Discs for the price of 2!
Perfectly pleasant music in every way. A set of 6 discs filled with elegant tuneful pieces that will sound brand new to many ears.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was born in Bratislava. From a very tender age his career was blessed with success. Mozart, who had heard him perform on the piano as a child, took him under his protective wing and gave him lessons for about two years, offering him accommodation in his own house in Vienna. At the age of ten Hummel began to give concerts all over northern Europe, presenting himself as a child prodigy. On his return to Vienna he studied under the guidance of Haydn, Salieri and Albrechtsberger, met Beethoven, whose friend he was for many years, and was increasingly admired for his extraordinary virtuoso gifts as a pianist. In 1816 Hummel was appointed maestro di cappella in Stuttgart, then moved on to occupy the same post at the grand ducal court of Weimar, where he was to stay for the rest of his life.

Selections recorded March 7-10, 1991.

This album focusses on the year 1824 and brings it to life through the marvelous music of four composers who gave the cello a special role in their compositions, and by the text which tells the story of the year 1824 based on original sources from journals, newspapers, letters, recollections, historic objects and works of art. The text is a loose collection of well-known, newly discovered, strange and everyday happenings, anecdotes, moods and opinions which throw light on a year in which much else happens, not least of all the first performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.