Mozart after Mozart (Arr. J.N. Hummel)

Album review

As a young composer and piano prodigy, Johann Nepomuk Hummel studied with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and lodged with him for two years. During this formative period, he became familiar with Mozart's piano concertos, and even gave a performance at one of Mozart's concerts. Four decades later, Hummel arranged a handful of the concertos for piano, flute, violin, and cello, and they became popular publications among amateur musicians, particularly of the Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466 (1827) and the Piano Concerto in B flat major, K. 456 (1830). This 2015 Dynamic release purports to be the world premiere recording of these arrangements on historical instruments, so the fortepiano and the violin are restored antiques, while the flute and cello are modern copies of period instruments. The arrangements give a good idea of Mozart's typical practice and the character of his performances, and the reduced "orchestra" offers a fair imitation of his blending of woodwind and string timbres. The playing by fortepianist Leonardo Miucci, flutist Martin Skamletz, violinist Johannes Gebauer, and cellist Bruno Hurtado Gosalvez is lively and tonally varied, and the music holds the listener's interest with its changing textures and clever orchestration, so these chamber version are far from dry or mechanical transcriptions.
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