Hans Gál: Chamber Music For Clarinet
Ensemble Burletta
Clarinet Quintet (op.107)
Trio for Violin, Clarinet & Piano (op.97)
Serenade for Clarinet, Violin & Cello (op.93)
Toccata Classics TOCC0377
2016
Where to buy or listen
Hans Gál: Chamber Music for Clarinet
Ensemble Burletta – Shelley Levy (clarinet); Katalin Kertész & Joanne Green (violins); Nichola Blakey (viola); Cressida Nash (cello); Pavel Timofeyevsky (piano)
About this release
Like Brahms and Reger, Hans Gál turned to chamber music late in life. His Clarinet Quintet, composed when he was 87, crowns this collection. The earlier Serenade and Trio, written during his exile from Nazi Germany and new life in Edinburgh, reveal an elegiac, autumnal lyricism that was his natural mode of expression. Across these three scores he produced some of the loveliest music in the clarinet repertoire.
Where to buy or listen
- Toccata Classics product page (CD/download)
- Apple Music (streaming/download)
- Qobuz (streaming/download)
What critics said
Gramophone highlighted the album’s rediscovery value and singled out Shelley Levy’s warmly characterised, persuasive playing.
Read the full review at MusicWeb International.
Further context
Gál wrote the three works on this disc across four decades, from the pre‑war Serenade to the post‑war Trio and the late Quintet. Together they chart the composer’s journey from Vienna to exile in Britain and show his steadfast commitment to lyrical, humane chamber music.
