Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago

---

Audio: youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mmp80OPKG_v2IxhqLAyb73KLDVgm6V1ck
Alison Balsom, trumpet
Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Thomas Klug, conductor

0:00 I. Allegro con spirito
9:21 II. Andante
14:07 III. Rondò
15:28 - Minore
16:22 - Maggiore

*Is an inaccurate score video "better than no score video"?*

Until now, the only full/orchestra/conductor score video of Hummel's Trumpet Concerto on YouTube was the one made by fellow score video creator TheOneAndOnlyZeno. The problem is that the sheet music used in that video is not the actual score. It's a re-orchestration by trumpeter Michel Rondeau, who uploaded it to IMSLP. As the comment all the way at the bottom of Zeno's video points out, the instrumentation is incomplete (omitting the bassoons), and clearly there seem to have been creative liberties with the orchestration taken throughout. On top of that, the audio used is the commonly performed version in E-flat, while the score itself is in Hummel's original key of E major.

So the question is, does putting up a score video with the incorrect edition actually benefit the internet? The target audience for such a video is almost certainly students, perhaps trumpet players learning the concerto and wanting to understand the orchestral writing, or orchestral musicians following along with the score. For that audience, an inaccurate score is not just unhelpful, but actively misleading. The video's description reads, "The COMPLETE score to Johann Nepomuk Hummel's incredible Trumpet concerto in E Major", making it very easy for a student who doesn't know any better to assume this was the real thing. I would argue not only that putting up the incorrect score video defeats the point of using an orchestral score in the first place, but even that it does more harm than good, especially with the added assertion in the description.

When I replied to Zeno's response that an incorrect score is "better than no score-video" by asking, "is misinformation better than no information?" Zeno's reply was, "If you don't like it, don't watch it." But how is a viewer supposed to know the score is wrong before clicking, watching, noticing maybe 1 minute in that the music doesn't match, second-guessing themselves, re-reading the description that insists it's "COMPLETE", before getting their answer by scrolling to the bottom of the comment section? I can say that this is exactly what happened to me (on a few occasions). Who knows how many of the 4k+ views on that video left misinformed, since most of the other comments suggest viewers had no idea anything was off.

Since Zeno's final response to my criticism was simply "Then make your own loser", well, here we are. Thankfully I'm actually able to do something about it - not everyone would have the means to put together a video like this. I found the Breitkopf & Härtel urtext edition and made this video as a correction of sorts. I don't expect that Zeno would take down his video, so I've also used a different recording. A clean, modern recording that's beneficial for students to hear how this piece is typically played today, in Eb, matching with the score.

In conclusion, I want to encourage fellow score video makers to uphold professionalism and a desire to seek, share and publish accurate information to help the music community. These videos are educational resources, and the people watching them should be able to trust what they see.