hummel is the perfect example of a composer whom we know was great yet have a hard time remembering anything specific about. he epitomizes the importance of historical context and what it does to our memory. sometimes i've heard my friends ask questions like, why do no tchaiks and brahmses exist today - that music is still perfectly good and nobody would mind if more of it was written. and sometimes i wish too that more things in the veins of past composers would continue to be written (ok maybe just more brahms). but the truth is if anyone tries to write this stuff now, they merely consign themselves to hummel's fate, which is to be remembered mostly as "beethoven's contemporary" who wrote music that sounded more or less entirely like early beethoven.
but of course i am not giving hummel himself enough credit: he was extremely popular when he died (1837 - almost ten years after beethoven's death). he fit in great with the culture of the times - wealthy patronage, lovely, graceful, "clementi-style" classical era music. this isn't to say that he just played it safe all the time either - just that his pioneering techniques in composition and performance (he was a well-known pianist) were presented early in his career, and by the eve of his life he found his influence had faded in the face of romanticism.
this piano concerto really sparkles. i can only find one professional recording that seems *ever* to have been made, but fortunately it is a good one. it is even harder to find program notes on this piece, which nobody seems to play. but hummel's piano concerti in general were studied by several generations of the greatest piano-composers - liszt, schumann, mendelssohn, and chopin, to name a few. he never composed a symphony.
this is an expansive movement, almost 15 minutes (to the second movement's 6). it contains so many characteristics of the classical piano concerto that they almost don't seem to be worth going through.
orchestral tutti which introduces all the themes, the first one an e-flat fanfare-like theme and the second at 1:09, a tinge of mellow minor followed by a more playful section with some light graceful notes.
notice orchestration: the strings definitely play the most prominent role, as they were wont to do in early classical music, with winds providing orchestration. (remember, for instance, in bach's orchestra, where basically the only time the very few winds play are for extended solos.)
piano enters at 2:54 with harmonically active material which propels it through the entire exposition. 5:24 is a play on the second theme which was outlined by the orchestra in the introduction.
okay, i think this concerto explains itself rather well. (also, because i can't find any information on it, your guess about all the material is definitely just as good as mine). but do take my word for it that this is a fantastic classical piano concerto.
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