Description
Hans Gál (1890-1987)
Symphony no. 3, opus 62
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Symphony no. 3 in E-flat Major, opus 97
Orchestra of the Swan
Recorded December 6-7, 2010, Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon
Produced, engineered and edited by Simon Fox-Gal
Released June 2011
Avie Records (AV2230)
For more details, please go to the Bobby and Hans home page.
Avie continues to bring to light the music of Hans Gál – “music well worth championing,” according to The Sunday Times (London) – with the world premiere recording of the Third Symphony conducted by committed advocate, American conductor Kenneth Woods with the enterprising Stratford-based Orchestra of the Swan. Written in the post-war years, after the “continental Briton” had settled in Edinburgh, the work ranges from lyrical tranquillity to a densely contrapuntal and rhythmically complex style. Gál’s compositional pedigree is strongly linked to the Austro-German tradition going back to the 18th century Viennese classical masters. The pairing of Schumann’s Third Symphony is appropriate, presenting Gál’s music alongside symphonic repertoire that represents its roots and core values. Woods made headlines with his first recording of Gál’s music on Avie with orchestral and concertante works conducting Northern Sinfonia (AV2146). Here he conducts Orchestra of the Swan, where he is Principal Guest Conductor, in the first of a projected cycle of all four of Hans Gál’s symphonies. Personnel: Orchestra of the Swan, Kenneth Woods (conductor) Critical acclaim: “Gloriously tuneful late-Romantic masterworks … music that compels attention.” – Gramophone “Highly polished account, with orchestral playing throughout most assured.” – Gramophone “Music well worth championing…plenty of rich tonal harmony and adventurous harmonic excursion, together with a ripe sense of the lyrical.” – The Sunday Times
“structural genius… contrapuntal mastery…committed performance…splendid sound, warmly recommended.”
Gramophone
“Best Recording of 2011″
Everything but the Music
“Top Ten Classical CD’s of 2011- “The Gal is a real find, especially the slow movement; and the Schumann is a joy after the many punched-up but four-square performances I’ve suffered through… It’s an awesome CD, folks.”
Bernard D. Sherman
“Best Classical Recordings of 2011″
WFMT-Chicago
”Woods shows his luminous interpretive vision in the Schumann, which blasts away the cobwebs of the composer’s reputation as a dull, borderline inept, orchestrator. As Schumann’s final of four works in the symphonic idiom, Op. 97 is full of energy and inspiration. Never has the outline of Schumann’s composition been clearer. Woods shapes exemplary phrasing from Orchestra of the Swan; the clarity does not amount to some kind of antiseptic dissection, but something more at the opposite extreme: a new lease on life for a familiar masterwork.”
Indianapolis Star
“Gál is truly worth rediscovering ; Woods’s recording project for Avie has intrigued and delighted me and I’m only left wanting more.”
Classic FM Magazine
““an excellent disc…a substantial work, deeply felt and deeply thought…obvious empathy and understanding..with admirable clarity of texture and finely honed musicianship… could hardly be bettered”
International Record Review
“The ‘Rhenish’ Symphony is given a superb outing, gloriously joyous in the outer movements, exuberant without being pushed, and also generously lyrical when needed, not least in the triptych of middle movements, beautifully phrased and sounded, breathing and shapely, sensitively addressed and lovingly detailed… . As for alternative recordings of the ‘Rhenish’, Woods holds his own against such wonders as Sawallisch (Dresden rather than Philadelphia), Celibidache (Munich), Giulini (Chicago) and immediately becomes a favourite for this delectable work. ”
Classical Source
“Gál’s impassioned, well-crafted late romanticism is readily accessible and quietly moving – there’s a lot to enjoy here. He’s good at subtle transitions – the way that the delicious opening melody segues into the first movement’s more agitated fast section, and its brilliant, ghostly close…brilliant, exuberant work”
The Arts Desk
”Gal’s Third Symphony is written for a relatively small ensemble, but it makes the most of the limited orchestral resources, giving every player a real workout…. and all rise to the challenge magnificently… Woods knows that his woodwind soloists can give him all the emotion the music needs, without him having to pull the tempos around, and they more than repay his trust…..
Classical CD Reviews
“A first recording shouldn’t be a swansong, but Orchestra of the Swan really does sing for Woods, in long, arching melodic lines, Gál’s writing favouring the woodwinds especially.”
The Classical Review
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