Readable, often witty and informative. This book is completely successful in providing a significant introduction to a remarkable, but largely forgotten and ignored composer...an important addition to the music enthusiast's library. SPIRITED Biographies have appeared over the years and performances help to focus what this new book's blurb correctly calls the distinctive voice of a master craftsman, here illustrated with a CD of strikingly graceful music. . . . The diary is fascinating, detailed, informative and indeed unique. MUSICAL TIMES This is an important resource for musicians and historians [...] it is a welcome addition to the life and work of Hans Gal, who is finally being recovered as a lost master of the twentieth century. TLS Hopefully, this volume will inspire someone to undertake a much needed full-length biographical study of an underrated composer. [Five Stars] BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE [An] invaluable book ... A mine of information throughout, the core of the book is Gal's diary, written in a lively and eminently readable style. GRAMOPHONE [Hans Gal's] diary is typically insightful, witty and richly detailed, written in a vivid and engaging style that translates well and grips the reader ... Eva Fox-Gal provides an excellent biographical essay of her father's life ... An essential volume on this fascinating composer, and actually the first to appear in English. Unreservedly recommended. [Five Stars] CLASSICAL MUSIC A mine of information throughout, the core of the book is Gal's diary, written in a lively and eminently readable style. He emerges as a likeable and immensely capable character, aware of his own mettle yet wearing it lightly, and quite free from the pretensions of grandeur. GRAMOPHONE This remarkable book presents a fine translation of the diary kept by Austrian composer Hans Gal during his internment in the summer of 1940, after he had fled Nazi-occupied Europe with his family. . . . His diary is typically insightful, witty and richly detailed, written in a vivid and engaging style that translates well and grips the reader. [. . . ] one of the joys of this book is a free accompanying CD which presents fine recording of the works he created. . . . This is music of such optimism and invention, that it is scarcely credible it was created under such duress. It deserves wider currency. [. . . ] Unreservedly recommended.
Brendan G Carroll, Classical Music Magazine