Review: Hummel at the Opera - Piano Arrangements by a Classical Master

Hummel At the Opera
Madoka Inui, piano
Naxos

Like many virtuoso composer/performers of the day, Johann Nepomuk Hummel wrote arrangements and variations on popular melodies. And in that day (the early 1800’s), the best-known melodies were to be found in operas.

This collection features a number of Hummel’s operatic arrangements for solo piano. All show a wealth of musical imagination. Some of the source material is familiar to us today, such Mozart’s Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Gluck’s Armide. Others are a little more obscure. In a few cases,  such as Hummel’s own fairy opera Eselshaut, his piano arrangements are the only surviving versions of the work.

As may one might expect, these variations and grand fantasias are full of attractive melodies. Compared to Liszt’s operatic transcriptions – or Beethoven’s “Diabelli Variations,” these works can seem a little tame. But Hummel’s inventiveness runs closer to  that of Mozart and Haydn. So while they’re  excessively showy, they’re all solidly constructed pieces of music.

Especially attractive is his variations of “Vivat Bacchus” from Mozart’s Die Entfuhrung. Hummel takes the aria through several permutations that vary in tone from humorous to serious.  I also found his simple counterpoint in the Grand Fantasi on Oberons Zauberhorn particularly charming.

Pianist Madoka Inui plays these works with precision and sensitivity. Her phrasing is impeccable, giving the music a sense of forward motion while maintaining a little of the emotional reserve characteristic of Hummel’s late-classical style.

Pleasant – and in some cases – thought-provoking arrangements that make for an enjoyable listening experience.