Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Piano Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 89 was composed in Vienna in 1819 and published in Leipzig in 1821.Mikio Tao, Works Catalogue of Hummel, (pdf)
Along with the slightly earlier Concerto No. 2, it is written in a proto-Romantic style that anticipates the later stylistic developments of composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt.MF Humphries, The Piano Concertos of Johann Nepomuk Hummel Dissertation (Northwestern University, 1957)
The work was a favourite of Liszt in his early career. After the teenager performed it at the Paris Opera, François-Joseph Fétis, musicologist and editor of Revue Musicale, published a very unfavourable review. He was particularly critical of the speed with which Liszt took the Rondo finale.
Music The work is scored for piano, flute, two oboes, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, four horns in D, G, and B, two trumpets in B, timpani, and strings. Notable is the sparsely scored second movement nocturne, accompanied by only the horns, cellos, and basses.
The work is composed in traditional three-movement form.
Recordings
1987 – Hummel: Piano Concertos, Stephen Hough, English Chamber Orchestra, Bryden Thomson.Chandos, 1987, CHAN 8507
References
Further reading M.F. Humphries, The Piano Concertos of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, PhD Dissertation (Northwestern University, 1957) B.H. Kim, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and His Contribution to Piano Music and the Art of Playing the Piano (University of Rochester, 1967)
External links