The Austrian Connection

Much lauded for her interpretations of Hans Gál's concerto and chamber music works, Sarah Beth Briggs presents the composer's beguiling Three Preludes alongside well-loved works by three of his greatest Austrian forebears - Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert. Following meticulous examination of the original scores, Briggs sensitively translates the authentic character of each work to the resources of a modern piano with revelatory results. Pianist Sarah Beth Briggs - an artist of extraordinary magnetism (Daily Telegraph) - is a leading recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician. A long-standing pupil of the late Denis Matthews, she gained a Hindemith Scholarship to study chamber music in Switzerland with celebrated violist Bruno Giuranna, and continued her studies there with renowned Arrau pupil, Chilean pianist Edith Fischer.