Hummel was a prominent virtuoso pianist who had contact with a veritable who's who of the Classical and Early Romantic world. He was a friend of Beethoven and Schubert, a very close student and friend of Mozart, a student of Salieri and Clementi, and a teacher of Czerny; the list goes on and on. He was also a highly influential and excellent composer, a fact that unfortunately sometimes gets overlooked due to the occasionally unfair comparisons to Beethoven, among others.

He wrote eight piano concertos, with the third one (B minor, op. 89) being probably the most popular. But the others have excellent music to offer, too. Take, as a case in point, the lesser-known second one, in A minor, sampled for this month's clip. It is full of ebullient, elegant charm, grace, and Mozartian balance and proportion. It also has just enough fireworks to really show off the talents of the pianist without devolving into empty, meaningless passagework.