Hummel:Bassoon Concerto in F major

Elegant pieces, not especially striking

Hummel was a very inventive composer of the late Viennese period. In my opinion, however, these pieces do not reflect his brilliance nearly as well as do his piano concertos or his septets. They are pleasant to listen to, but not particularly striking. it is interesting to note that all require extreme virtuosity from the performers. The bassoon concerto is in a style very similar to Mozart's, and nice to hear considering the rather limited bassoon repertoire. The variations for oboe and orchetra are pretty, but I find to the variations to be somewhat simple and unoriginal. The clarinet quartet is very interesting to listen to. Its second movement requires each of the four players to play in a different meter. Although I feel it lacks the grace of the other two pieces, it is certainly the most original of the three. Either way, while these aren't Hummel's best works, they warrant a listening. December 10, 2000

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