Mozart/Hummel: Piano Concertos (No 10 KV365 & No 24 KV491) (Arr Hummel)

Pianist Fumiko Shiraga has made, in her recordings for BIS, something of a specialty of reviving long-forgotten chamber settings of piano concerti, generally dating from the cusp of the classical period. These arrangements suit the musical medium of the late Classical, early Romantic piano concerto quite well, as expressive powers of the soloist are given free reign with the smaller, more limber accompaniment afforded. Although Shiraga's first disc, of the Chopin concerti, was so outstanding that an appropriate follow-up would be practically unimaginable, this disc, Mozart/Hummel: Piano Concertos Nos. 10 & 24 may even be better, if that is possible.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was particularly close to the Mozarts; as Wolfgang Mozart's student, part of Hummel's duties was to play through scores for his master to hear them, in some instances probably even Mozart's own. Hummel also had a chance to observe Mozart as a composer at close range, a privilege enjoyed by relatively few others. Nonetheless, his arrangements of seven Mozart concerti for piano, flute, violin, and viola did not appear until 1836, a time when Liszt, Berlioz, and Mendelssohn were already well underway in wielding the Romantic cudgel. To a small extent, Hummel's arrangements reflect these developments in their thicker piano writing and heavily virtuosic cadenzas. The overall effect, however, is not a Busoni-esque re-invention of the wheel but rather the music of Mozart as seen through the prismatic lens of a musician who deeply admired him on a personal and artistic basis.

Neither emotional nor technical challenges are beyond Shiraga, who takes these neglected scores and manages to convey their historical significance and import, yet assumes that we will never listen for that alone and pursues the emotional content of the music down to its finest grain. It is quite an achievement -- bear in mind that Hummel's transcription of the four-hand Piano Concerto No. 10 in E flat, KV 365, involved combining the two piano parts. Flutist Henrik Wiese, violinist Peter Clemente, and cellist Tibor Bényi manage to negotiate through Hummel's treacherous reductions of the orchestral ripieno to just three parts and meld successfully with Shiraga while never getting in her way. Mozart/Hummel: Piano Concertos Nos. 10 & 24 is a fabulous, revelatory disc that will be cherished, and should be known, by all who love Mozart's piano concertos.