# Recommend me some more Erich Korngold please!



## FPwtc (Dec 3, 2014)

I really love my cd of Erich Korngold's violin concerto with James Ehnes. I am keen to explore more of Korngold's work, can anyone recommend a few other good cds or works I should check out? I am more interested in instrumental works.

I know I am being lazy and could look for myself but you guys always lead me straight to the good stuff


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I'd start with two Chandos CD's, one coupling the Sinfonietta and an overture, the other with the symphony and a song cycle.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Good suggestions by Art - Chandos have served Korngold well with their series of recordings. Korngold's relatively slender body of chamber music was also central to his output so I'd recommend these for starters:

















FYI the second recording contains Korngold's three string quartets and his string sextet on two discs. Unfortunately the Marco Polo disc seems to be out of print now if Amazon is a true indication but the album is at least available to be bought digitally. Both the Violin Sonata and the Piano Quintet are available on other recordings, though.


----------



## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

There's also a very good EMI/Warner double CD in their 20th century classics series, with the Violin concerto, Symphony, violin sonata, and a couple of smaller orchestral pieces and songs.

Of course the greatest hit from Korngold has to be the gorgeously beautiful Marietta's Song "from" Die Tote Stadt. The opera itself is worth hearing too, but the song is very different in its original setting.


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

use youtube to explore what you like, then buy. 
I would recommend "Die tote Stadt" (The Dead City) but you are not into vocal music. Then try his piano quintet


----------



## Guest (Aug 20, 2018)

Yeah I agree with Jacck. Die Tote Stadt is great; it's a good amount of Korngold in one go plus a nice story to go along with it. Exploring composers on youtube, spotify, naxos music library is generally how I go about finding the things I like to listen to.


----------



## kyjo (Jan 1, 2018)

The Symphony in F-sharp is a masterpiece - the shockingly dissonant opening is unlike anything else Korngold ever wrote. He also wrote some superb chamber music - particularly the Piano Quintet (gorgeous slow movement!) and String Sextet - which are lush and endlessly inventive.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The Sinfonietta, the suite from Much ado about Nothing. And by no means skip over the film scores! That's great stuff: Robin Hood, Between Two Worlds, Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk...what a great composer. And if anyone is interested, next summer's Bard Festival in New York will be "Korngold and his World". A rare chance to hear some of his music.


----------



## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

If it has Korngold's name on it you can't go wrong, in my opinion. He's a composer who was neglected for many years but slowly has been more and more recognized.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

If you really find yourself impressed and enchanted with Korngold, be sure to read Brendan Carroll's book, The Last Prodigy. Fascinating reading. Try to watch all of the movies he wrote soundtracks for. Some of them are pretty bad, but the scored are terrific. This thread inspired me to watch Kings Row tonight. Great movie with a great score. And then, be sure to visit the Hollywood cemetery where he's buried!


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Try the suite from Korngold's music for the 1942 film _King's Row_. This may remind you of something else far more recent.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

FPwtc said:


> I really love my cd of Erich Korngold's violin concerto with James Ehnes. I am keen to explore more of Korngold's work, can anyone recommend a few other good cds or works I should check out? I am more interested in instrumental works.
> 
> I know I am being lazy and could look for myself but you guys always lead me straight to the good stuff


The Violin Concerto, the Symphony in F#, the film music -- it's all good stuff. And you have plenty of great recommendations here to follow up on.

I just wanted to remind you, if you don't know this already, that there is a Violin Concerto by American composer Samuel Barber that proves a veritable rival in beauty and power to the Korngold concerto. In fact, the two works are often coupled on disc. If you haven't yet heard that Barber Concerto, get to it right away.

Next you'll be posting for recommendations for further listening of Samuel Barber. And we'll have plenty of things for you to consider there, too.

All the best.


----------



## FPwtc (Dec 3, 2014)

Brilliant thanks for all the suggestions, this lot will keep me busy!!


----------



## Eusebius12 (Mar 22, 2010)

Das Wunder Heliane is a worthy successor to Die Tote Stadt. Korngold is a bridging composer- he bridges the world between Richard Strauss and the music hall. Possibly wrote the greatest music ever written by an early teen. He was one of the greatest prodigies music has seen. I don't care much for the violin concerto (more 'korn' than 'gold' it has been said) and his film music rarely stands alone in my view.


----------



## FPwtc (Dec 3, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> The Violin Concerto, the Symphony in F#, the film music -- it's all good stuff. And you have plenty of great recommendations here to follow up on.
> 
> I just wanted to remind you, if you don't know this already, that there is a Violin Concerto by American composer Samuel Barber that proves a veritable rival in beauty and power to the Korngold concerto. In fact, the two works are often coupled on disc. If you haven't yet heard that Barber Concerto, get to it right away.
> 
> ...


Yes the CD I have has Barber and Walton's violin concertos, it is one of my favourites as they all sit very well together.


----------



## Alkan (Jun 30, 2018)

I like his piano music. There are 2 youthful sonatas that won praise from Mahler, plus his Op. 3 Marchenbilder on a disc from Marco Polo. You will find it worth 67.5 minutes of your time.


----------



## Logos (Nov 3, 2012)

In my view, Korngold and Max Steiner are the two most important movie composers.


----------



## Steve Mc (Jun 14, 2018)

Korngold was superior. He approached the scores more as genuine compositions than Steiner did.
For me, Rozsa, Waxman, Herrmann, and Williams are all greater than Steiner.


----------



## sonance (Aug 20, 2018)

There is also a very fine (though rather short) Cello concerto (op. 37) by Korngold. - Julian Steckel's playing is gorgeous (CD-label CAvi; here the concerto is coupled with cello works by Bloch and Goldschmidt). This performance doesn't seem to be on YouTube, but there you'll find other performers, for example Emmanuelle Bertrand.
May I direct you to the review at musicweb-international? You'll find a lot more information there: 
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/July11/Steckel_8553223.htm

You might also be interested in the Suite for 2 Violins, Cello and Piano Left Hand (op. 23). - I can recommend the performance by Leon Fleisher (piano), Joseph Silverstein and Jaime Laredo, violins, Yo-Yo Ma, cello (CD-label Sony; here coupled with Franz Schmidt's Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello & Piano Left Hand). This one you'll find at YouTube, but I guess there are plenty of other performers.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

sonance said:


> There is also a very fine (though rather short) Cello concerto (op. 37) by Korngold. - Julian Steckel's playing is gorgeous (CD-label CAvi; here the concerto is coupled with cello works by Bloch and Goldschmidt). This performance doesn't seem to be on YouTube, but there you'll find other performers, for example Emmanuelle Bertrand.
> May I direct you to the review at musicweb-international? You'll find a lot more information there:
> http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/July11/Steckel_8553223.htm
> 
> _You might also be interested in the Suite for 2 Violins, Cello and Piano Left Hand (op. 23)._ - I can recommend the performance by Leon Fleisher (piano), Joseph Silverstein and Jaime Laredo, violins, Yo-Yo Ma, cello (CD-label Sony; here coupled with Franz Schmidt's Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello & Piano Left Hand). This one you'll find at YouTube, but I guess there are plenty of other performers.


Another recording worth taking into account is this one as it is twinned with the op.1 piano trio (an astoundingly mature work written when Korngold was 12-13).


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

For me his Violin Concerto is his finest piece. Hear it with Jascha Heifetz.


----------



## vmartell (Feb 9, 2017)

I am gonna let other fine peeps at this forum recommend other EWK works - what I want to do is to throw a few more names - if you like EWK, you might like

Franz Schreker
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Walter Braunfels
Italo Montemezzi
Riccardo Zandonai

thnx!

v


----------



## endelbendel (Jul 7, 2018)

Violin Concerto, Martha Cuckson.


----------



## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Had a Korngold discovery phase a couple years ago... just when the VC with Vilde Frang was released, coupled withe the Britten, a keeper for me, along with Die Tote Stadt, on the gothic side, with Mariella's Song... was not so impressed with my chamber music selections, the von Otter set or the sextet by the Raphael Ensemble, but I don't blame the composer...


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

His movie score for "Captain Blood" with Eroll Flynn is quite good.


----------



## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Theme, Variations, and Finale; Op. 13.

The brief "Allegro molto agitato e tumultuoso" movement was used without authorization but to powerful effect in two 1954 episodes of The Adventures of Superman, "The Golden Vulture" and "The Clown Who Cried".








And the key scene from "The Clown Who Cried" :






Edit: The entire work was on Leonard Bernstein's debut concert with the New York Philharmonic on November 14, 1943. Bernstein was substituting for the ill Bruno Walter. Bernstein's interpretation was recorded and is on YouTube.


----------

