The great accomplishment of Bartók's was the same as that of the Anna Magdalena Bach Book: it was a set of pieces for student pianists that also compelled the attention of the adults in the room. And some of the declines in fortune experienced by classical music (and the novel) in recent decades are surely attributable in part to the low quality of works written for children during this period. This collection of works by German composer Bertold Hummel will help to rectify that problem, and they're a delight to listen to. ...
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The great accomplishment of Bartók's was the same as that of the Anna Magdalena Bach Book: it was a set of pieces for student pianists that also compelled the attention of the adults in the room. And some of the declines in fortune experienced by classical music (and the novel) in recent decades are surely attributable in part to the low quality of works written for children during this period. This collection of works by German composer Bertold Hummel will help to rectify that problem, and they're a delight to listen to. Bartók is certainly the model; Hummel writes little pieces, about a minute long, that are nearly all either descriptive or illustrative of basic musical forms. There is also a three-movement Sonatine for piano, Op. 56a, whose movements are more abstract but hardly longer or more complex. Like Bartók, Hummel introduces specific modern techniques -- the Barcarole, track 29, from the Kleines Klavieralbum für meine Enkelkinder, Op. 103d (Little Piano Album for My Grandchildren), uses tone...
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