Hans Gal Piano Music (Martin Jones)

Gál
Piano Sonata, Op 28. Piano Suite, Op 24. Two Sonatinas,
Op 58. Three Sketches, Op 7. Three Small Pieces,
Op 64. 24 Preludes, Op 83. Three Preludes, Op65
Martin Jones pf
Nimbus NI 5751/2 (140’ • DDD)

Piano music, coupled as above —selected comparison:
McCawley (11/05) (AVIE) AV2064

Excellent survey of Gal’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... 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 Gal’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.

Guy Rickards
[excerpted from double review of this release and Membran's Gal Organ Music disc]