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.
September 2011
“a committed performance of a work that grows on me with each hearing...Woods provides a strong reading and the disc as a whole, with splendid sound, is warmly recommended.”
July/August 2011
“Woods, who conducts the Gál with obvious empathy and understanding (he also contributes the booklet notes), give a strong, forceful reading of the Schumann, if for obvious reasons a little small-scale. The Stratford-based Orchestra of the Swan is not a huge band...but it makes up for lack of numbers - especially strings - with admirable clarity of texture and finely honed musicianship. The performance of the Gál could hardly be bettered.”
September 2011
****
“[the Rhenish] is well-paced with a particularly effective Scherzo and some very stylish string playing. It's adventuring through the Gál, though, that brings the best from Woods and his musicians. A sense of excitement quickly creeps into the throbbing pregnancy of the first movement and the players have you hooked thereafter.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
