Internationally celebrated conductor Thomas Zehetmair, Music Director of Northern Sinfonia, presents the world-premiere recording of Hans Gál’s Symphony No.1, a bold and approachable orchestral statement, paired with Schubert’s Sixth. The first of two recordings pairing the composers, the release showcases two ends of a great melodic tradition, presenting Gál’s music alongside 19th-century symphonic repertoire that represents its roots and core values.

Gál’s Symphony No.1 was not in fact his first - an earlier symphony had won the Austrian State prize in 1915, but it was later discarded, as was another. Gál finally considered this work, which won a Columbia Schubert Centenary Prize in 1928, to be his symphonic debut. The music speaks through its bold and persuasive conception and uninhibited climaxes, reflecting the composer’s sense of truly having found his own voice. The writing is virtuosic and the orchestration colourful.

Featuring Northern Sinfonia in their spectacular venue, Hall One of The Sage Gateshead, these recordings underscore Zehetmair’s hallmark electrifying intensity, precision and vision.

This release continues Avie’s ongoing celebration of the music of Hans Gál, following highly acclaimed releases of the complete works for solo piano by Leon McCawley, chamber works for Violin and Piano featuring Annette-Barbara Vogel, and concertante works for violin and orchestra, also with Vogel, and Kenneth Woods conducting Northern Sinfonia.

Critical acclaim:
"Gloriously tuneful late-Romantic masterworks...music that compels attention." – Gramophone

"Plenty of rich tonal harmony and adventurous harmonic excursion, together with a ripe sense of the lyrical." - The Sunday Times