Hummel: Sonatas/ La contemplazione Piano Chaconne

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“…This is a fine addition to the recorded discography of Hummel’s music. I would especially recommend it for period-instrument enthusiasts…”

Scott Noriega - Fanfare - March/April 2010

"The use of the historical piano brings transparency to this music, giving it elegance and necessary lightness. The artist’s skillful playing brings the best characteristics of the instrument" ****

Pawel Siwczak - Musical Opinion - March/April 2010

…“My main pleasure in listening to this album was the marvellous instrument which Susan Alexander-Max plays; it is an 1814 Joseph Brodmann fortepiano, with a marvellously warm sound, somewhat less vivid in color than modern instruments but possessive of its own kind of beauty. Connoisseurs of fortepianos will want to hear this CD … this is one of the most attractive instruments I’ve heard and thus one of those I would be most likely to recommend to a newcomer to period performances. Alexander-Max herself plays with dedication and poetry, very much committed to the advocacy of these works. The Chandos sound is very good, and in sum this is a good find for admirers of the era and the fortepiano, or for those interested in Hummel and the contemporaries of Beethoven …”

Brian Reinhart - MusicWeb International - February 2010

“…Alexander-Max’s persuasive playing, and her excellent programme note, make a convincing case for the reappraisal of Hummel’s piano music, and leave me wondering at the received wisdom which rates his sonatas so much lower than Beethoven’s. They are highly original works whose idiom must certainly be classed as ‘early romantic’ – there are ‘re-echoes’ of Schubert and even Chopin at time – while at the same time they look back to ‘classical’ sonata form as Hummel must have inherited it from Mozart during his two years as a live-in pupil. This recording should be required listening for anyone with an interest in the piano music of Beethoven and his contemporaries.”

Richard Maunder - Early Music Review - February 2010

**** Performance **** Recording

George Pratt - BBC Music Magazine - January 2010

“Persuasive performances of music by a major contemporary of Beethoven… Susan Alexander-May, playing on a reproduction fortepiano of the period, is a most persuasive interpreter. … she brings out the underlying liveliness, reflecting the impact that this music in the composer’s hands made on audiences.”

Edward Greenfield - Gramophone - February 2010

“…The overall effect is very impressive and Susan Alexander-Max gives a powerful performance. …The CD is completed by a short Bagatelle, composed in 1825, at about the same time as Beethoven was composing his Op.126 set. It is a delightful piece which gives Alexander-Max the opportunity to show off the various tonal effects of her fortepiano. I, for one, will certainly look out for more music by Hummel and hope that he is given performances as persuasive as these.”

Peter Marchbank - International Record Review - January 2010

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