Bob Draper wrote:

>The best of a minor composer (eg Reicha) is better the worst of a major
>composer (eg haydn).  There are hidden gems all over the place and some
>unknown masterpieces as well.  I would encourage group members to tell
>of their discoveries.

Maybe he no longer counts as a minor composer, but listening to Hummel's
a-minor piano concerto for the first time thirty years ago is what revealed
this truth to me.  Here was somebody who sounded not quite like anybody
else, and who hit me at that particular classic-romantic intersection where
I am especially vulnerable.  One doesn't have to find such a work one of
"the greatest masterpieces of Western Art" (to quote Deryk Barker in regard
to the Mozart piano concerti) to find it immensely lovable.  And sometimes
I want to hear that Hummel more than any other work, no matter how great.
(For those interested, I think the Stephen Hough recordings of Hummel
concerti are terrific.)

Nick
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