York classical pianist Sarah Beth Briggs to release album of Mozart and Gál concertos in May

"This disc is my first for Avie Records and features the world premiere recording of Hans Gál's terrific piano concerto, paired with Mozart’s E flat Concerto K482," says Sarah.

"It's appropriate that I've recorded a Mozart Piano Concerto, being a former International Mozart Competition winner, and the recording also features the first ever recording of cadenzas by my late teacher, Denis Matthews, originally written for Dame Myra Hess."

The Gál Concerto for Piano & Orchestra recording with the Royal Northern Sinfonia was conducted by Kenneth Woods. "Hans Gál is at present having a well deserved revival; his four symphonies, cello concerto and violin concerto having already achieved great success on the Avie label," says Sarah. "I've become fascinated and delighted by his music since I discovered it initially through his cello concerto, for which I played the piano reduction of the orchestral part when Antonio Meneses was about to record it a few years ago.

Sarah Beth Briggs' new album cover

"My long-standing recording producer, Simon Fox-Gál, is Gál’s grandson, so it's also special to have a personal link to the work, but I feel this is a concerto which should long since have established itself in the mainstream concerto repertoire."

The work was written in 1948 after Gál had been living in Britain for ten years. "As an Austrian Jew, he had fled to Britain in 1938, only to be interned as an 'enemy alien' for several months in 1940," says Sarah. "His Piano Concerto is an extremely impressive piece. In turn brilliant, witty and full of expressive lyricism, it has a huge amount of audience appeal.

"At the same time, at the heart of the concerto there is Mozartian precision and the frequent need for the soloist to be a team player rather than the ‘prima donna', which makes it an ideal partner for the Mozart for this recording."

Sarah's album will be available from all the usual national and international sources.