The Cello Concerto, Op. 67 of Hans Gál, an Austrian composer prominent in the Weimar Republic but persecuted by the Nazis, is featured alongside the popular Cello Concerto of Edward Elgar on this recording by cellist Antonio Meneses and the Northern Sinfonia conducted by Claudio Cruz. This is the world premiere recording of the Gál concerto, the latest in Avie’s revelatory traversal of the composer’s music.

The Cello Concerto was written in 1944, a time of personal turmoil for Gál. In 1942 his aunt and sister committed suicide rather than be deported to Auschwitz and his youngest son, crushed by the emotional strain, took his own life at the end of that year. It was six years before the concerto was premiered and it’s shocking that it took over half a century for it to receive its first recording. Considering Gál’s life it’s not surprising there’s melancholy in much of the music, but it's not the teeth-gnashing heartache of a Shostakovich, but more closely resembles something with a Brahms-like wistfulness. The solo part is virtuosic but substantive, there’s no glib flash here. The opening Allegro moderato has a rhapsodic quality and a taxing cadenza that Meneses plays with tremendous technical assurance and abundant heart. The brief but beautiful Andante features a superb dialogue between the cello and oboe that plays like a double concerto. Meneses and the unnamed oboe soloist take flight in this beautiful idyll and its one of the great moments on the recording. The closing Allegretto is jaunty with a lengthy cadenza that pushes the soloist to explore the full range of the instrument. Meneses triumphs here with another display of virtuosity. This is a marvelous concerto and I can’t understand why it’s not played more often, thankfully Meneses proves to be its great champion.

The Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 is one of the cornerstones of the repertoire and needs little introduction. The Concerto sings with its own brand of melancholy and therefore is a fitting companion piece to the Gál Concerto. Once again I am impressed with Meneses’s easy virtuosity. His playing in the quicksilver second movement is breathlessly exciting and the gorgeous cantabile line he spins in the Adagio is beautiful. Cruz leads the excellent Northern Sinfonia in performances that rise far above mere accompanying roles. The wind players make considerable contributions to the Gál Concerto and the entire ensemble play marvelously throughout. I urgently recommend that you get this one.