Hans Gál - Organ Concerto; etc. (István Mátyás)

Information

Composer: Hans Gál

• (01) Concertino for Organ and Strings
• (04) Toccata
• (05) Zwei geistliche Gesänge
• (07) Prelude and Fugue in A flat major
• (09) Fantasia, Arioso and Capriccio

István Mátyás, organ

Adrineh Simonian, soprano (5, 6)
David Pennetzdorfer, cello (5, 6)

Orchester Wiener Akademie
Martin Haselböck, conductor (1-3)

Date: 2007
Label: New Classical Adventure (NCA)

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Review

Two excellent surveys of Gál’s keyboard music in committed performances

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Hans Gál, the last great exponent of the Viennese Classical tradition, which no doubt accounts for the release of these two fine issues. The larger offering, ironically, is the lesser in a sense because where Membran’s single disc contains all of Gál’s organ works, Nimbus’s twofer only gives us two-thirds (in duration) of his published output for piano two hands, omitting the 24 Fugues (1980) included in Avie’s complete set. Second recordings for what they do include are most welcome and no less than the music deserves, but Martin Jones’s otherwise splendid interpretations are at a competitive disadvantage compared to Avie.

And that is a shame because he clearly has the measure of the repertoire, both its technical demands as well as the nuances of Gál’s style. McCawley on the whole does play with the greater fluency and is markedly swifter throughout. I prefer his choices of tempi mostly, for example in the fine Sonata (1928) and two Sonatinas (1949‑51), though Jones surely has the Grave marking of the E minor 10th Prelude correct – taking a minute longer than his younger rival – and his handling of the last of the Three Sketches (1910-11) has a shade more aplomb. Elsewhere honours are fairly even, the main distinctive feature between the two sets being the recorded sound. Nimbus’s is the more recessed within a resonant acoustic whereas Avie produced a more focused and sharper audio image. The music sounds terrific in both.

In his youth Gál had been a competent organist so it is no surprise he used the instrument often. The major item on István Mátyás’s disc – though not the longest – is the Toccata (1928), revealing Gál the thinker in large structures. Neither the Prelude and Fugue nor Phantasie, Arioso and Capriccio (both written in 1956 but not assigned opus numbers) scale the same heights, delightful pieces as they are. The 1948 Concertino is thoroughly engaging with real charm. Membran’s SACD recording is good though not sensational, although in the Two Sacred Songs (1923) – which provide welcome textural variation – soprano Adrineh Simonian is placed too far forward. The performances are uniformly fine in a most welcome addition to the catalogue.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

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Hans Gál (5 August 1890 – 3 October 1987) was an Austrian-British composer, teacher and author. Gál was born to a Jewish family near Vienna, and studied music history at the University of Vienna with Guido Adler. After serving in World War I, he was appointed to the directorship of the Mainz Conservatory. Immediately after the Anschluss in 1938, Gál fled to London and and eventually resided in Edinburgh, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Gál’s music style is rooted in the Austro-German musical tradition; his output was considerable with over 150 published works in virtually all genres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_G%C3%A1l

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The organist and pianist, István Mátyás, was born in Hungary. He studied concert organ and piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst with Roland Keller, Paul Gulda, Karen De Pastel, Rudolf Scholz and Martin Haselböck. In 2005 he received 1st prize in the Mikael Tariverdiev Organ Competition in Kaliningrad. Since then, numerous concert engagements have taken him throughout Europe. As a pianist, Mátyás works regularly with the Theater an der Wien as a rehearsal pianist and musical assistant. Since 2014 he has worked as a coach at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
https://www.mdw.ac.at/gesangundmusiktheater/?newlang=en&PageId=206

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