Hummel studied with Mozart (piano and composition) and was a friend of Beethoven – and we can hear all this in his septets. We can hear, too, why Schumann’s generation praised him highly. Here is a Classical master on the cusp of the Romantic era, original in instrumentation and technique and subtle in his harmonies. For several decades now, the Consortium Classicum has been recognised as one of the outstanding chamber ensembles of a variable formation. They are joined in each septet by pianist Florian Uhlig and in Op. 114 by the ensemble’s 'spiritus rector' of many years, Dieter Klöcker on clarinet. His colleagues match him here in their good humour, technical brilliance and their love of musical detail – qualities that this new recording possesses from first note to last.