Istvan Matyas - Hans Gal: Organ Works by Istvan Matyas (2007) [SACD]

Hans Gal, who was born the son of a Jewish doctor in Vienna, composed at an early age with considerable success. However, he later destroyed the large part of his early work, as it was not representative of his labors. He won over the music world with his masterly approach to opera and even large choral works and became the principal of the conservatory in Mainz in 1929, where he established himself as a leading figure in German musical circles, but his works were then banned from public performance, when Hitler came to power. In 1938 he and his family were even forced to flee to England. When Hans Gal died in October 1987 at the age of 97, the majority of his works were unknown or were only seldom performed. Although the number of pieces which he wrote for the organ is comparatively small, they show that he possessed a thorough knowledge of the instrument. All of these works have been recorded for the very first time on this particular disc.
As a performer, Gál was first and foremost a pianist (though he made it his business to learn to play most of the standard instruments). Little is known specifically of his activities as an organ player, though in an interview given to the Südwestfunk Radio in Mainz in 1986 (at the age of 96) in which he spoke about his early career as a composer, Gál stated that:
“I was very interested in the organ at that time. I played the organ myself as a young man. In Vienna you could only play the organ in a church. I did that, I often played for a service in a church, like the Catholic church. The difference is: in Germany the position of organist at a large church was a sought-after and possible profession. In Austria this profession didn’t exist. The Catholic church never spent any money on the organist. It was mostly the local village school-master who played the organ. And so, for years I helped out on the organ from time to time in small churches. So, I was completely at home on the instrument.