In the shadows of history, the works of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Erich Korngold emerge as profound testaments to the resilience of the human spirit. Both composers, deeply affected by the tumultuous tides of the twentieth century, faced the harrowing realities of persecution. Their music, rich in emotion and complexity, serves not only as a reflection of their personal trials but as an enduring legacy of hope and beauty amid despair. Driven by a passion for meaningful projects, cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper gave the New York premiere of Weinberg's Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 52 and Korngold's Cello Concerto in C major in 2025. She is rejoined by her concert partner, conductor Constantine Orbelian, and the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra to record these works, together with Weinberg's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Three extraordinary works for solo cello and orchestra by two leading composers of the twentieth century.

Vienna was in the grip of serious political unrest that forced many of it's artists into exile when Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) composed his Second String Quartet in 1933, first performed the following year in the Austrian capital. In it he celebrated, before it faded away, the vitality of a musical school of which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) had been one of the founders more than a century and a half earlier, and which Anton Webern (1883-1945) had helped to usher into modernity. It is this lineage that the musicians of the Quatuor Herm�s (the Herm�s String Quartet) highlight through a twilight-tinged programme in which each work bears witness to a fascinating narrative power and could be understood as an expression of a farewell.

The Pacifica Quartet presents The Korngold Collection, a landmark recording of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's complete string quartets and rarely heard chamber works tracing the composer's extraordinary evolution from prodigy of post-imperial Vienna to pioneering film composer in Hollywood. Described by The Daily Telegraph as "nothing short of phenomenal," the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet brings more than three decades of acclaimed artistry to this sweeping portrait of Korngold's chamber music. The three string quartets, written between 1923 and 1945, chart Korngold's artistic journey: the First Quartet pulses with adventurous harmony; the Second, composed just before his emigration from Austria, overflows with lush melody; and the Third, finalized after WWII, draws on themes from his iconic film scores, including The Sea Hawk and Between Two Worlds. Complementing the quartets are two early chamber gems: the radiant Piano Quintet in E major (1920), written in the wake of his operatic triumph, Die tote Stadt and performed with pianist Orion Weiss; and the vibrant String Sextet in D major (1914), a youthful work that helped establish Korngold's early reputation, featuring violist Milena P�jaro-van de Stadt and cellist Eric Kim. Praised for their "remarkable expressive range and tonal beauty" (The New York Times), the Pacifica Quartet has distinguished itself through a deep commitment to complete composer cycles, including The Soviet Experience, their celebrated survey of Shostakovich's 15 string quartets, plus quartets by his contemporaries.

Conductor and composer Jorg Widmann leads the Stuttgarter Kammerochester in this album of masterpieces for string orchestra. The precocious Mendelssohn is represented with his String Symphony No.10 in B minor. It consists of a single movement, in which a sweeping slow introduction is followed by an allegro and coda. Widmann's own Ikarische Klage takes it's subject matter from a poem by Baudelaire: "Burnt by the love of beauty / I will not have the sublime honour / of giving my name to the abyss / that will serve as my grave". On Korngold's Symphonic Serenade, Widmann says "What a piece, full of glittering magic!". In this work we hear dreams of a real or imaginary Vienna in the time of Mahler or Berg: a vision that looks to the future, is heart-rending but never sentimental.

A refined Lieder recital focused on the fascinating figure of Alma Mahler. All main composers of Vienna at the outset of the 20th century are represented. An unprecedented flourishing of musical and artistic talents concentrated at that time in the Austro-Hungarian empire capital. Third recording on Challenge Classics by raising star baritone Raoul Steffani. Previous releases: CC 72865 with Magdalena Kozena. Classica (FR): Raoul Steffani demonstrates a style and a diction always impeccable. He vocally masters all these lieder which often seek the top of the register and bring a lot of colors. CC 72785, American Record Guide (USA): This is an exceptionally fine debut recording for an already well-developed singer.

Andrew Haveron and John Wilson deliver a fresh and intensely idiomatic reading of Korngold’s Violin Concerto, coupled with the formidable String Sextet. One of the most sought-after violinists of his generation and a laureate of some of the most prestigious international violin competitions, Andrew Haveron studied in London at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music. As a soloist, he has collaborated with conductors such as Jirí Belohlávek, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, David Robertson, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and John Wilson, performing a broad range of well-known and less familiar concertos with many of the finest orchestras in the UK. In 1999 he was appointed first violinist of the internationally acclaimed Brodsky Quartet. In 2007 he was appointed leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He joined the Philharmonia Orchestra in 2012, has been the leader of The John Wilson Orchestra since its inception, and in 2013 took up his current post of concert master of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

REVIEW:

Violinist Andrew Haveron comes unusually close to the precise yet sentiment-filled Heifetz (the Violin Concerto's first player) sound ideal. His sheer endurance at the top of the violin's range in the slow movement is especially notable. Players from the Sinfonia of London are heard in the companion work, the teenage Korngold's String Sextet, Op. 10, a terrifically lush slice of prewar Vienna. A very fine Korngold release that should find a place on the shelves and hard drives of lovers of Korngold, film music, and the last, or at least penultimate, bloom of late Romanticism.

– AllMusic Guide (J. Manheim)

Viviane Goergen has not only made a name for herself with her recordings of Ernst Toch's piano works, among others, through far-sighted repertoire enrichment, but also with an interpretation concept that offered new approaches for interpreters as early as the 1980s through the use of meditation, autogenic and mental training, among other things, which also benefits her Schumann recording from 1988.

Bruges la morte – The Dead City: This was the name of the novel published in 1892 that the young Erich Wolfgang Korngold used in 1920 as the basis for his first and most successful opera. The music of Tote Stadt, composed during the turbulent yet wildly creative time of nascent atonality, holds steadfastly to the operatic forms and tonal world of Puccini. Korngold‘s enormous richness of musical colors are irresistible, as are his harmonies – which go to the outermost bounds of the expected – and impressionistic tone-painting.

Included is a 43 page color booklet with notes on the performance, musicians and sung texts.

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ECHOES AND ENCORES - EVA GUSTA

In Werke für Violine und Klavier, the interplay between grotesque humour and instant melodic upswings the piece demonstrates the amazing plasticity of the young Korngold’s inventiveness. Korngold draws on the classical forms in Streichsextett D-Dur, but realizes them individually; the tonal harmonies are sometimes stretched to their limits, without touching their significant function; though the six voices are conceived polyphonically, they can resound orchestrally – all this is part of the trade of the ingenious adolescent.

Let me come right out and say it: this is the most important film-music recording of the year, and perhaps for many years. The stunning Main Title sequence, with its powerful, sweeping orchestral chords depicting the motion of the sea, followed by the angular, dissonant descending six-note theme for Wolf Larsen’s ship, the Ghost , explores new territory for anyone who identifies Korngold by his scores for swashbucklers ( The Sea Hawk , Captain Blood , The Adventures of Robin Hood ) or costume spectacles ( The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex ). The Sea Wolf (and Between Two Worlds ) is stylistically closer to his two most famous operas, Die Tote Stadt and Das Wunder der Heliane .


Based on the Jack London novel, The Sea Wolf is the story of a sophisticated but sadistic and psychotic captain who psychologically tortures three passengers he has taken aboard his ship. The score is a series of variations on the brutal theme for the “Ghost.” The music is dark and sinister throughout the film, until some light seeps in at the end after Larsen’s death. There is also a haunting and atmospheric contrasting melody for solo harmonica that Korngold later used effectively in his Third String Quartet. The huge orchestra, including piano, celesta, vibraphone, and nova chord, makes you realize how Korngold would have relished utilizing synthesizers in his orchestra. This is the premiere recording of the complete score for The Sea Wolf . In addition to emphasizing the lost art of the composer presenting his principal musical statement in a concise Main Title, the CD also includes nearly five minutes of music composed for the film’s trailer. One thinks of a trailer like that for The Nun’s Story , which is virtually choreographed to Franz Waxman’s symphonically developed music. This is something you unfortunately no longer see in the present age of temp-tracked trailers.


The substantial filler is a 16-minute concert suite that Korngold arranged from his score for The Adventures of Robin Hood . Many feel that Robin Hood is Korngold’s greatest and most original score. While I freely acknowledge its seminal importance and influence in the history of film music, I prefer to listen to any number of his scores, including Kings Row , Anthony Adverse , Between Two Worlds , Devotion , and The Sea Wolf . The technically dazzling and flamboyantly orchestrated swashbuckling and swordfight music wears a little thin after awhile. In arranging his concert suite, Korngold seems to have recognized this. The gorgeous love scene is the centerpiece, and there is more emphasis on lyrical music than the action underscores. What is missing is the dazzling “Coronation Procession,” which is the orchestral highlight of the score.


Rumon Gamba’s interpretation of The Sea Wolf is excellent in every conceivable way. He doesn’t stint on the angry edginess of the music, and its unique atmosphere comes through perfectly. I can pay Gamba no higher compliment than to say that he matches Charles Gerhardt’s short Suite from the RCA “Classic Film Score” series in every way except the sound. Robin Hood does not work quite as well. Some of this is due to sound that lacks the transient speed and fine inner detail necessary to project the complex but transparent orchestration. Gamba is also a little laid back in the love music, and he doesn’t have the feel for those gorgeous climactic final cadences that Gerhardt has. To get back to the sound, the CD is recorded at a very low level, but if you turn the volume sufficiently high, the music explodes with a front and center aural perspective that complements the dynamic impact of The Sea Wolf . The distant harmonica is beautifully phrased and flawlessly integrated with the orchestra. It effectively emphasizes the loneliness of the sailor’s life, especially on this ship from hell. In sum, great music, dynamic conducting, brilliant orchestral execution, and sound that works well for The Sea Wolf , but somewhat less so for the Robin Hood Suite. The album contains excellent program notes written by the composer’s biographer, Brendan G. Carroll. This is essential for Korngold aficionados, film music fans, and music-lovers everywhere. One hopes that Chandos will follow this valuable recording with the many other Korngold scores that have never had adequate complete recordings.


FANFARE: Arthur Lintgen


The Sea Wolf is one of Erich Korngold's darkest and most evocative scores. This recording includes the entire work, plus the original trailer for the film--more than an hour of music in all. Despite the claim that Korngold's scores link up perfectly when played continuously, there's still a good bit of atmospheric noodling and some clear stops and starts. This is movie music, after all, but the vast majority of the piece really does hang together on its own, and as always Korngold's handling of texture and sonority is simply amazing. The suite from Robin Hood is quite popular and no stranger to disc, but the performances here are uniformly fine and very well recorded. Indeed, the BBC Philharmonic sounds like a good Hollywood pick-up band, perhaps lacking only that last ounce of schmaltz to the string tone. I can't imagine film music buffs or Korngold fans being disappointed.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

First performed in 1920, Die Tote Stadt is unanimously considered Erich Wolfgang Korngold's operatic masterpiece. When he wrote it, the composer was only twenty-three years old but had already achieved full artistic maturity.

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Expressionistic variety of sound and colorful gliding impressionistic harmonies, the melodic invention of a somnambulist and, at the same time, wakeful attention to detail come together in Korngold with a formal sense orientated on the classical models. Korngold writes in an individual and concentrated language. The Camerata Freden works out his often unusual, densely packed ideas with precision and verve.

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• The camerata freden perform the Piano Quintet, Op. 15 and the better-known String Sextet, Op. 10 of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. • Korngold was a child prodigy at the turn of the 20thcentury, later winning the Academy Award for his score to The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938. • The camerata freden launched as a festival ensemble almost simultaneously with the International Music Fredener twenty years ago. • Recordings captured during the annual Festival in Freden an der Leine.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was a child prodigy whose early genius was recognized and admired by the likes of Gustav Mahler and Giacomo Puccini. His musical style, deeply affected by music for the theatre, possessed great lyrical breadth; he managed to develop his own voice by blending all the different influences he absorbed in Vienna during his studies. The advent of Nazism in 1934 forced him to seek refuge in the United States, where he became the first composer of film scores, winning two Oscars and marking a milestone in the Hollywood film industry. Teatro Regio di Torino has contributed to the rediscovery of this precious one-act opera by staging its Italian premiere. Violanta is Korngold's second opera, which the composer wrote in 1914 at the age of 17. It was premiered with great success at Munich’s Hoftheater on 28 March 1916, and a few days later in Vienna. The influence of the Austrian capital is key to understanding Korngold’s style. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s Vienna was a place of contrasts: nostalgia for the past and innovative trends; conservatism and creative energy. Korngold grew up in this environment, absorbing various influences which are all present in Violanta, making this opera a sort of 'small-scale Vienna'. Pier Luigi Pizzi, stage director, costume and lighting designer for this production, chose to set the action at the beginning of the 1920s in a decadent Venice, where distant echoes of a melancholic Carnival add a sense of gloom to the whole performance.

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Erich Wolfgang Korngold was a child prodigy whose early genius was recognized and admired by the likes of Gustav Mahler and Giacomo Puccini. His musical style, deeply affected by music for the theatre, possessed great lyrical breadth; he managed to develop his own voice by blending all the different influences he absorbed in Vienna during his studies. The advent of Nazism in 1934 forced him to seek refuge in the United States, where he became the first composer of film scores, winning two Oscars and marking a milestone in the Hollywood film industry. Teatro Regio di Torino has contributed to the rediscovery of this precious one-act opera by staging its Italian premiere. Violanta is Korngold's second opera, which the composer wrote in 1914 at the age of 17. It was premiered with great success at Munich’s Hoftheater on 28 March 1916, and a few days later in Vienna. The influence of the Austrian capital is key to understanding Korngold’s style. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s Vienna was a place of contrasts: nostalgia for the past and innovative trends; conservatism and creative energy. Korngold grew up in this environment, absorbing various influences which are all present in Violanta, making this opera a sort of 'small-scale Vienna'. Pier Luigi Pizzi, stage director, costume and lighting designer for this production, chose to set the action at the beginning of the 1920s in a decadent Venice, where distant echoes of a melancholic Carnival add a sense of gloom to the whole performance.

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Classical Music

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was one of the most astonishing prodigies in the history of western music, admired by Mahler, Strauss, and Puccini. His compositions were regularly performed by renowned musicians from around the world. Korngold composed his Sextet for Strings between 1914 and 1916, at the same time as his opera Violanta, and for this reason perhaps, it takes on some of the theatrical elements of that work. The first movement presents some highly intricate counterpoint among the different voices. In the Adagio the mood shifts to one of intense sensuousness. The third movement brings relief to the highly charged atmosphere. Here Korngold plays - sometimes with an air of irony, sometimes jokingly, sometimes more straightforwardly - with that most Viennese of genres, the waltz. The finale, in typical Korngold fashion, is high-spirited and good-humoured. The highly successful premiere of the Quintet for Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Piano took place in Hamburg in 1923 with the composer at the keyboard. The work is in three elaborate and complex movements, with a piano part of considerable difficulty, and string writing on a virtuosic scale. With good humour and charm aplenty, the quintet displays the composer's sunny disposition. In the work Korngold incorporated a musical code that he had developed to send secret, loving messages to his fiancée during concert performances. Described by the magazine Gramophone as 'one of the finest young string quartets', whose members are 'musicians with fascinating things to say', the Doric String Quartet has received rave responses from audiences and critics across the globe. The Quartet's recent recording of Korngold's string quartets was a 2010 Critics' Choice in Gramophone, and the group's most recent recording on Chandos (CHAN 10692), of Schumann's three string quartets, was 'Recording of the Month' in BBC Music. The Quartet is joined on this recording by Kathryn Stott on piano, Jennifer Stumm on viola, and Bartholomew LaFolette on cello.

Scored for large forces - the rare Symphony in F Sharp major is a work of real imaginative power and ranks alongside the major symphonic works of Mahler and Bruckner; with a powerful and deeply felt slow movement of grandiose character. Coupled with the exquisite yet, rarely performed 'Lieder des Abshieds' a cycle of four orchestral songs are much earlier and completed in 1920; clearly influenced by Strauss, Mahler and Zemlinsky and performed here with the persuasive soloist, Linda Finnie. Conducted by Edward Downes, the BBC Philharmonic performs with enthusiasm and sensitivity. 'Korngold's lush orchestration needs sound with a full bloom, and the Chandos engineers provided that in spades.' - The Times

There's very little competition for this music, which is a shame because these are excellent quartets. It's really very remarkable how Korngold uses timbre to keep the busy textures clear and prevent his often chromatic harmony from turning into sludge. The main competition comes from the Flesch Quartet on ASV, so-so performances spread over two discs because they include the string Sextet as well. In general, the Doric Quartet offers livelier, more colorful, more accurate performances. To give just one example: the score of the Second quartet lists the work's duration at an optimistically fast 18 minutes. Flesch takes 25, while the Doric clocks in at an ideal 21 minutes.

These quartets are quite difficult to play, the first especially, which features frequent changes of tempo, often within a few bars. The Doric players handle all of these with astonishing ease and naturalness. There are a couple of points, as at figure 3 in the Second quartet's first movement, where the group slows down a bit in anticipation of Korngold's marking (his "Un poco più tranquillo" doesn't arrive until seven bars later), but if this is a fault, it's a vanishingly minor one.

Otherwise, you can only applaud the group's tonal richness, immaculate intonation, and a stylishness that never turns tacky (excellent application of portamento). First violinist Alex Redington deserves particular mention for handling his vibrato-less "ohne Ausdruck" moments (figure 7 in the First quartet's first movement, for example) with the right expressive point while never letting his tone turn just plain ugly ("period" performers take note). Violist Simon Tandree also features a particularly attractive timbre in his many solo licks. Korngold asks for many "special effects", including harmonics, col legno, open strings, muting, and lots of pizzicato; all of these are rendered with consistent musicality and are beautifully integrated into the ensemble texture.

Excellent sonics complement this obvious first choice for this music. If you don't know these pieces, you should. There's much more to Korngold than you might think--check out the wonderfully spiky scherzo in the Third quartet for a particularly bracing "fact check" on his theoretically unabashedly late-Romantic style. One final note for score collectors: all three works are available from Schott, the first two quartets in convenient study format, the Third only as a score and parts. An important release for chamber music devotees, and a terrific example of first-rate quartet playing.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com