He certainly had an auspicious start to his musical career:
the child prodigy Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Born in Brünn
(today Brno) he grew up in Vienna from the age of four. His
father, Julius, had then succeeded the notorious critic Eduard
Hanslick at the Neuen Freien Presse. He played the piano
at a very early age and when he was nine Gustav Mahler observed
his enormous talent and arranged that Alexander von Zemlinsky
became his teacher and mentor. In his early teens he became
known to the general public and over the following years a whole
range of works were premiered. The list of musicians performing
them is a veritable musicians’ Who’s Who. Artur
Schnabel played his second piano sonata Op. 2 in 1911; the same
year Artur Nikisch premiered his Overture Op. 4 (one
of the works on the present disc); Felix von Weingartner played
his Sinfonietta, Op 5, Bruno Walter took care of his
first two operas, Der Ring des Polycrates and Violanta
and Maria Jeritza, who sang Violanta in Vienna¸ also took
the role of Marietta in Die tote Stadt at the American
premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1921 - the
work having already had a double premiere in Hamburg and Cologne
the previous year. This opera was probably his greatest success
but during the 1920s some of the interest in his music waned,
and when he moved to USA in the mid-1930s and started writing
film scores for Warner Bros, he practically abandoned his classical
composing.
After the war he took up his classical side again but with little
success. When he passed away he was more or less forgotten.
The revival came in the mid-1970s when almost simultaneously
RCA released Die
tote Stadt, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, and also launched
the justly famous series with recordings of classical Hollywood
scores, conducted by Charles Gerhardt and with George Korngold
- the composer’s son - as producer. Two of these volumes
were devoted to Korngold’s film music and it was through
them I became fascinated by his very special sound-world. Truth
to tell there had been some earlier recordings, most famous
no doubt, Jascha Heifetz’s recording of the violin concerto.
Heifetz was the one who premiered the concerto in 1947. Rudolf
Kempe conducted the symphony in 1972, and if I remember correctly
it was also originally released by RCA, who also recorded the
string quartets with the Chilingirian Quartet.
Since then there has been a wealth of recordings. All his operas
are now available, Chandos recorded most of his orchestral works
with Edward Downes and Mathias Bamert as conductors. Several
complete film scores have also been released, so today admirers
of Korngold’s music have a plethora from which to choose.
The violin concerto is presumably his most recorded work and
any newcomer has to challenge not only Heifetz but also Itzhak
Perlman and Gil
Shaham and a host of others. There is even an earlier issue
on Naxos (8.553579)
with Vera Tsu, coupled with Goldmark’s concerto.
Philippe Quint has by now a quite extended discography, of which
I have to admit I have heard fairly little. Some years ago I
had, however, the pleasure to review his recording of Bernstein’s
Serenade, a more than full-size violin concerto with
a playing time of over half an hour. I found him utterly convincing,
though in comparison with Gidon Kremer on Bernstein’s
own DG recording, I thought Kremer was more intense. This may
have something to do with the actual tone; Kremer has a darker,
more rounded tone, while Quint is rather thinner. This is also
the drawback with the Korngold concerto. There are few works
in the whole violin concerto repertoire with more surging romantic
melodies - some people call them sentimental and over-sweet;
they need a romantic approach. My favourite recording since
the seventies is an EMI
LP with the German Ulf Hoelscher, accompanied by the South
German Radio Symphony Orchestra under Willy Mattes. Hoelscher
has the warm tone that makes these wonderful melodies sing -
and he doesn’t add saccharine. There is no need to - Korngold
has already provided enough. Where Quint is superb is in the
third movement: vivid, technically brilliant and rhythmically
assured.
The Mexican orchestra play with brilliance and confidence and
the excellent recording lays bare the marvellous orchestration,
which we recognize from Korngold’s supreme film scores.
This concerto in particular has close connections to the Warner
Bros years, since Korngold has recycled themes from three of
his foremost film scores.
The Overture to a Drama, Op. 4, written when the composer
was still wearing short trousers, is a remarkable piece. The
thematic work is mature and the orchestration, especially bearing
in mind that this was his first independent orchestral composition,
is so sure-footed. Not as lush as his scoring was to become
a few years later there are still more than traces of the superb
film music composer-to-be.
The suite from the incidental music to Shakespeare’s Much
Ado About Nothing (the German title is ‘Viel Lärm
um nichts’) was also included on the Hoelscher LP. It
is remarkable how many ravishing colours he conjures forth with
the rather limited instrumental forces available. The ensemble
includes harmonium as well as piano, cleverly incorporated in
the fabric. The complete incidental music comprised fourteen
numbers but Korngold compiled the suite Op. 11 and performed
it in January 1920, several months before the premiere of the
play at the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre. He also arranged
the music for various chamber music constellations since he
knew beforehand that the full ensemble of musicians wouldn’t
be available all the time during the run of the play. The five
movements of the suite are entertaining and atmospheric. The
overture chats light-heartedly; Bridal Morning is rather
melancholy - she has obviously second thoughts; Dogberry
and Verges depicts the drunken nightwatchmen; the Intermezzo
with cello and piano alone to begin with, is conceived almost
as a modern pop-ballad; and the Hornpipe is a jolly finale.
It is interesting to note that Carlos Miguel Prieto and Willy
Mattes choose almost identical tempos throughout, and having
learnt this music through the Mattes recording Prieto seems
fully idiomatic.
The Hoelscher/Mattes record, mentioned above, has recently been
re-released by EMI as a double-CD, including the violin concerto,
the Much Ado suite and Theme and Variations, Op.
42, coupled with Welser-Möst’s recording of the Symphony
in F sharp minor, the Piano Trio Op 1 and
as bonuses Kiri Te Kanawa and Thomas Hampson singing
the two famous arias from Die tote Stadt. I haven’t
heard the symphony but that set is definitely a good buy. Admirers
of Philippe Quint will no doubt find a lot to enjoy on this
latest Naxos disc and the ‘fillers’ are worthy additions
to the ever-growing Korngold discography.
Göran Forsling
see also review by Kevin
Sutton
Philippe
Quint (violin) 
