Ensemble Burletta are passionate about bringing the chamber music of Hans Gál back into the canon.
One of the founders of the Edinburgh Festival and a professor at Edinburgh University for many years, Jewish-born Gál fled to Britain in 1938 from Nazi dominated Europe. Despite becoming a much loved and respected member of the British musical elite as a teacher, performer and conductor, he struggled to regain the recognition for his compositions he had enjoyed in pre-war Europe. His Clarinet Quintet, composed in 1977, is a wonderful example of his later chamber music and Ensemble Burletta received a glowing review for their recent recording of it in Gramophone Magazine.
Their programme takes us from Mozart’s Vienna of 1782 and the emergence of the classical style, to the darker days of pre-war Austria when Jewish-born nationals were forced to flee from the Nazi regime.
In the music of Hans Gál and Joseph Horovitz we experience the voice of two such emigrés: Gál near the end of life, his compositions rooted in the Germanic musical traditions of harmony and tonality.
Horovitz composing in 1948 at the very beginning of his musical career; using the music of Weber as a musical template. The magnificence of Brahms’ clarinet quintet brings us full circle back to Vienna where Brahms spent much of his professional life, his composition rooted in the classical musical tradition embodied by Mozart.
Chamber Music Concert, 3pm, Sunday 10th March 2019
Stockbridge Church, 7b Saxe Coburg Street, EH5 3BN
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