Hans Gál: Chamber Music for Clarinet
Like Brahms and Reger, Hans Gál (1890–1987) expressed some of his last musical thoughts in the form of a Clarinet Quintet, this one written when its composer was 87 years old. But the earlier works here – the Serenade written in Vienna between Gál’s expulsion from Nazi Germany and his flight after the Anschluss, and the Trio, composed in his new home of Edinburgh – reveal that its elegiac, autumnal lyricism was his natural mode of expression. In these three scores, indeed, he produced some of the loveliest music in the clarinet repertoire.
Ensemble Burletta
Shelley Levy, clarinet
Katalin Kertész, violin
Joanne Green, violin (Tracks 1 – 3)
Nichola Blakey, viola (Tracks 1 – 3)
Cressida Nash, cello (Tracks 1 – 3)
Pavel Timofeyevsky, piano (Tracks 4 – 6)
Listen To This Recording:
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Clarinet Quintet, Op. 107 (1977)*
- I Allegro comodo
- II Lento – quasi allegretto
- III Poco adagio – allegro molto
- I Moderato assai
- II Andantino capriccioso
- III Tema con variazioni
- I Cantabile
- II Burletta
- III Intermezzo
- IV Giocoso
Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, Op. 97 (1950)
Serenade for Clarinet, Violin and Cello, Op. 93 (1935)*
*First Recordings
MusicWeb International :
‘Welcome music radiating confidence, depth and a smile; all ardently performed.’
—Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International
Gramophone :
‘If you’ve already been tempted into the lyrical, warm-hearted sound world of this exiled Viennese late-Romantic, you won’t need much encouragement. […]
The sincerity and craftsmanship of this music is self-evident, likewise its undertow of melancholy. This is a major rediscovery, and clarinettist Shelley Levy makes a sympathetic champion – plangent in her bottom register and accompanied by a quartet whose wide-grained tone quality suits this music well. Ensemble Burletta have a natural feeling for the ebb and flow of Gál’s style in the earlier Clarinet Trio and Serenade (the latter also a premiere recording – a suite of miniatures with a brisk sense of humour), moving easily between song and playful wit, and savouring the piquancy of Gál’s Strauss-like surprise modulations. The sound is well balanced and natural – you wouldn’t guess that this disc was recorded at three separate locations. Warmly recommended.’
—Richard Bratby, Gramophone