After years of relative neglect Korngold is reaching a wider
audience at last. True, Erich Leinsdorf’s classic recording
of Die
Tode Stadt has been around for nearly 40 years but Das
Wunder Der Heliane had to wait until the 1990s before
it appeared as part of Decca’s Entartete Musik series.
Since then Matthias Bamert and the late Ted Downes have recorded
some fine discs of Korngold’s vocal and orchestral music
for Chandos. And don’t forget André Previn, whose
version of the violin
concerto with Gil Shaham (DG 439 886 2) is one of the very
best available. He has also returned to his Hollywood heyday
with a disc of music from The Sea Hawk and other
film scores (DG
471 347 2).
Even in his music for the movies Korngold never lost his echt-Viennese
character - just listen to the music he wrote for those sweeping
swashbucklers Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk -
and the same holds true for his violin concerto and other concert
pieces. The concerto, premiered by the legendary Heifetz, is
one of Korngold’s best- known works - ArkivMusic lists
no fewer than 23 versions - helped, no doubt, by the advocacy
of some of our finest fiddlers.
A relative newcomer to this club, Russian-born violinist Philippe
Quint first came to my attention on a Naxos disc of works by
John Corigliano and Virgil Thomson (review).
I admired his instinctive musicianship then and I’m pleased
to say he doesn’t disappoint now. The rich violin melody
that opens the Moderato nobile is just sweet enough - more schlagobers, less sachertorte -
and Quint seems almost nonchalant in the more virtuosic writing
that follows. Shaham’s fuller, sweeter tone and sharper
attack are even more impressive, the DG recording suitably warm
and weighty.
Although the LSO/Previn partnership, at its peak in the 1960s
and 1970s, is special, Carlos Miguel Prieto also has plenty of
rapport with his players, who are every bit as focused and sympathetic
in their accompaniment. Just sample the harp playing in the Romance,
for instance, where one is transported to the ambiguous, bittersweet
sound world of Die Tote Stadt. This is glorious music,
eloquently played and recorded with a degree of warmth one doesn’t
often encounter with Naxos. One can only wonder at how the concerto’s
dedicatee, Mahler’s widow Alma, responded to this lovely,
late-Romantic sunset.
Quint may not match Shaham for refulgence of tone - especially
in the Romance - but he certainly makes up for that with some
vigorous playing in the Finale. Pietro may seem a little rushed
at times - rhythmic articulation is not as precise as Previn’s
- but the Mexican orchestra are just as thrilling as the LSO
in the concerto’s trenchant final bars.
Korngold the child prodigy is represented here by his Overture
to a Drama, written when he was just 14 and premiered by
no less a band than the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Nikisch.
There’s nothing uneven or precocious about this well-made
piece; indeed, the music strikes me as Brahmsian in places -
it certainly has a bluff quality about it - with a sprinkle of
Mendelssohnian fairy dust as well. The Mexican players respond
to Korngold’s youthful vigour with a mix of enthusiasm
and polish, that recurring theme bandied about the orchestra
to great effect. And yes, they do bring a Latin lilt to some
of the music’s more rhythmic sections. A most enjoyable
performance that ends with a cymbal-capped, rather Brahmsian,
flourish (shades of the Academic Festival Overture).
The percussion is no less thrilling in the nimble overture to
Korngold’s Much Ado About Nothing suite, written
to accompany a Viennese performance of the play in 1920. I particularly
like the way this music is delivered with a slight Latin accent,
even in the gentle string tunes of Bridal morning (tr. 6). Meanwhile,
in the comedy of Dogberry and Verges (tr. 7) Pietro points and
phrases the music with delicacy and wit. As for the brief, Cav-like
Intermezzo it has a wistful radiance that’s hard to resist,
the final Hornpipe buoyed by strong, secure brass playing. Some
listeners may prefer the composer’s own arrangement for
violin and piano, in which case the Previn/Shaham recording should
be at the top of your list.
This is a delightful disc and a welcome addition to the growing
list of Korngold recordings. Quint is not without his rivals
in the concerto, but that matters little when he plays so seductively
throughout. And don’t overlook Carlos Miguel Pietro and
the Orquesta Sinfónica de Mineria, who bring so much warmth
and high spirits to these scores. Nice one, Naxos.
Dan Morgan
see also reviews by Göran Forsling and Kevin Sutton
Philippe Quint
(violin) 
