The Austrian Jewish composer Hans Gál
fled Vienna in 1938 for England and then Scotland, then learned that
both his aunt and his sister had committed suicide to avoid being sent
to Auschwitz. He himself spent time in a British internment camp for
enemy aliens. Through these events he maintained a consistent personal
style that tended toward optimism, and his Piano Concerto, Op. 57,
recorded here for the first time, is a fine example. It is Mozartian
without being neoclassic, putting essentially Romantic melodies together
in clean, distinct units and adding a bit of chromatic harmony. It's as
if Carl Maria von Weber
had written his piano music at the beginning of the 20th century
instead of the beginning of the 19th. Sample the last movement (track
3), where a very Mozartian mixture of high spirits and melancholy
reigns.
The Royal Northern Sinfonia under Kenneth Woods and pianist Sarah Beth Briggs are quietly sensitive in the complex ensemble work. The Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482, fills out the program in
an unusually satisfying way, and Avie gets exactly the right lucid
sound, working in Sage Gateshead's Hall One in North East England.
Marvelous music by a composer who is benefiting from a well-deserved
revival.
(James Manheim)
The Austrian Jewish composer Hans Gál
fled Vienna in 1938 for England and then Scotland, then learned that
both his aunt and his sister had committed suicide to avoid being sent
to Auschwitz. He himself spent time in a British internment camp for
enemy aliens. Through these events he maintained a consistent personal
style that tended toward optimism, and his Piano Concerto, Op. 57,
recorded here for the first time, is a fine example. It is Mozartian
without being neoclassic, putting essentially Romantic melodies together
in clean, distinct units and adding a bit of chromatic harmony. It's as
if Carl Maria von Weber
had written his piano music at the beginning of the 20th century
instead of the beginning of the 19th. Sample the last movement (track
3), where a very Mozartian mixture of high spirits and melancholy
reigns. The Royal Northern Sinfonia under Kenneth Woods and pianist Sarah Beth Briggs are quietly sensitive in the complex ensemble work. The Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482, fills out the program in
an unusually satisfying way, and Avie gets exactly the right lucid
sound, working in Sage Gateshead's Hall One in North East England.
Marvelous music by a composer who is benefiting from a well-deserved
revival. (James Manheim)
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