Gál: Piano Concerto; Mozart: Piano Concerto in E flat K482 - review

Austrian composer Hans Gál (1890-1986) fled the Nazis twice before ending up in Edinburgh where he spent the rest of his life.

His composing career never recovered, and only in the past few years has his music been rediscovered, with Avie to the fore in the issue of CDs.

The Piano Concerto dates from 1948 and stylistically makes a fair stab at being all things to all men, classically oriented but with lots of romantic leanings and some smartly up to the minute touches.

Sarah Beth Briggs plays as to the manner born, and brings a Clara Haskil-like directness and transparency to Mozart’s gorgeously wind-rich Concerto in E flat K482.

[ avie-records.com ]