For those who think that twentieth century Austrian music made a wrong turn with
Schoenberg,
Berg, and Webern, there are several possible alternative composers. On the one side, there is the intensely expressive but not quite expressionist music of
Ernst Krenek; on the other side, there's the intensely romantic but not quite neo-Romantic music of
Franz Schmidt; and in the middle, there's the post-Romantic but not quite expressionist music of
Hans Gál. Born just outside Vienna in 1890 and dying in Edinburgh in 1987,
Gál wrote in a style informed by the spirit of
Brahms and
Schubert, but with a modernist clarity and acerbity that almost make him an honorary member of the postwar generation. While this two-disc set played by
Martin Jones is not the first nor the most complete recording of
Gál's piano music --
Leon McCawley's three-disc set on Avie adds the 24 Fugues, Op. 108 -- it is still an apt introduction to the composer's works. In these first-rate performances --
Jones first made his name as a
Debussy player and his varied touch and technical perfection serve him well here -- there are many excellent places to start listening. There are the two delightful, three-movement Sonatines, Op. 58, with their crisp themes and shapely forms; the amusing Three Sketches, Op. 7, with their droll themes and witty harmonies; the almost-but-not-quite neo-Classical five-movement Suite, Op. 24, with its almost-but-not-quite sarcastic Menuett, Capriccio, and Gigue; the ambitious four-movement Sonate, Op. 28, with its turbulent intensity; the slender but lovely Three little Pieces, Op. 64, with their dry-eyed but affecting central Melody; the tiny but evocative Three Preludes, Op. 65, and, finally, the kaleidoscopic 24 Preludes that present snapshots of the composer in a huge range of moods. Recorded in clear but ever so slightly too reverberant digital sound by Nimbus Records, this set will satisfy listeners who like their twentieth century Austrian music to have a good tune.