Northern Sinfonia/Thomas Zehetmair Avie AV 2224 ****

“Kindred Spirits. Two ends of a great tradition” is the banner on this coupling of symphonies by Schubert and fellow Austrian composer Hans Gál (1890-1987). Gál was one of the composers who entered the Columbia Graphophone Company’s international Schubert centenary competition in 1928.

His First Symphony (which he originally called a sinfonietta) came second in the Austrian section to Franz Schmidt’s Third Symphony (with Sweden’s Kurt Atterberg taking the overall first prize). It’s a light, backward- looking piece, well varied (the central movements are a Burlesque and an Elegie), but not particularly distinctive.

Here it’s coupled with a performance of Schubert’s Sixth Symphony that sometimes takes rhythmic pliability to extremes, but also manages to be both astonishingly long-breathed and light-footed.

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