The Austrian composer Hans Gál expressed himself in practically all important areas of so-called "classical" music, and not least had great success with several of his stage works before he had to emigrate from Germany to England due to the political situation. He was obviously a very gifted creator of musical idylls, as this new recording from Finland shows. The Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra from the 1920s and the Serenade for Strings have a gracious charm that is only surpassed by the seductive, harmonically enchanting Concertino for Violin and Orchestra. The piece reveals nothing of the composer's personal circumstances or the growing threat looming over Europe – all that was good, true and beautiful was an inextinguishable source of life to Hans Gál.