Sonata for Piano
, Opus 28, (1927)
Tranquillo e semplice, Quasi menuetto, Andante un poco sostenuto, Allegro con spirito
Duration: 18''
Publisher: Simrock (1927), now Boosey & Hawkes
Available from Boosey&Hawkes: in print (M221120861)
RECORDINGS
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Hans Gál. The Complete Works for Solo Piano
Leon McCawley
CD1:
Sonata op. 28;
Suite op. 24;
Two Sonatinas op. 58;
Three Sketches op. 7;
Three Small Pieces op. 64;
Three Preludes op.65
CD2: Twenty-four Preludes op. 83
CD3: Twenty-four Fugues op. 108
3-CD set
Avie 2064, 2005
www.avierecords.com
Record Company's Sales note:
Hans Gál penned scores of effortlessly pleasing and melodic music which is rarely heard today. A “continental Briton”, he fled the Nazi regime and settled in Edinburgh in 1939 where he lived until his death at the age of 97. In Germany and Austria he achieved early recognition as a composer, his work championed by Georg Szell. After emigrating, his life was devoted mainly to academia and authoring numerous books on music. There has been a recent upsurge of interest in his work, and this 3-CD set of his complete works for solo piano, including numerous world-premiere recordings, champions the cause. Exquisitely performed by pianist Leon McCawley – his second recording for Avie following his Gramophone Editor’s Choice recording of Schumann Piano Works (AV 0029) – this collection carries the endorsement of Hans Gál’s estate.
CD 1
1. - 4. Sonata, Op. 28 (1927) * (18:20)
5. - 9. Suite, Op. 24 (1922) * (14:16)
10. - 12. Sonatina No. 1 Op. 58 (1951) * (10:26)
13. - 16. Sonatina No. 2 Op. 58 (1949) * (11:48)
17. - 19. Three Sketches Op. 7 (1910-11) * (6:18)
20. - 22. Three Small Pieces Op. 64 (1933) * (8:55)
23. - 25. Three Preludes for Piano Op. 65 (1944) * (8:38)
Total time CD 1: 78:47
CD 2
1. - 24. Twenty-four Preludes Op. 83 (1960) (50:02)
CD 3
1. - 24. Twenty-four Fugues Op. 108 (1980) * (59:54)
Total time: 3:08:43
* world premiere recordings
Recorded 10 - 13 November 2004 and 26 - 28 March 2005, at Potton Hall, Suffolk
Recording producer: Simon Fox-Gál
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PERFORMANCES
First performance: Hans Gál, Breslau, Mar. 1928, Vienna
Other performances: Hans Gál, Breslau, Apr. 1928
Stuttgart Radio, Jun. 1928,
Petra Göring, Vienna, Dec. 1929
Hans Gál, Basle, Feb. 1930; Mainz, Dec. 1930; München Radio, Jun. 1950
Wanda Zachra-Stadler, Vienna, Feb. 1935, Feb. 1936
Köln Radio, Jul. 1949
Mainz, Sept. 1980
Leon McCawley, Surrey, Birmingham, 2001; Stratford-upon-Avon, Apr. 2002
Sarah Beth Briggs, Edinburgh, Sep. 2018
"Written in 1927. At that time, as always and even now, I was fascinated by the inexhaustible impossibilities of writing for the piano, but at that time I could ask more of my hands than I can today. Incidentally, it is not merely called a sonata, it really is one, with a concentrated, tightly-knit structure; the form of the four movements is completely clear. You couldn't fail to notice that the third is a set of variations, and similarly that the theme of the Rondo grows out of the last bar of the variation theme. Another thematic link is found in the first bar of the first movement: the falling fifth B flat-E flat which it contains is in the motif of the Scherzo, and also in the first bar of the variation theme in the Andante. It will amuse you to hear me confess that I have only just noticed this on looking at the score: when you write in one go, you invent organically, whether you want to or not."
Hans Gál, 1962.
