Korngold: Complete Incidental Music / Mammel. Simon, Holst-Sinfonietta

$13.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
February 11, 2022
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Erich Wolfgang Korngold
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Holst-Sinfonietta
    • PERFORMER
      Hans Jörg Mammel, Ekkehard Abele, Klaus Simon
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      February 11, 2022
    • UPC
      747313335572
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8573355
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. Ouvertüre

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    2. Act I Scene 1: Kriegsmusik

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    3. Act I Scene 2: Don Juan

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    4. Act II: Prelude, "Mummenschanz" (Hornpipe)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    5. Act II Scene 1: Festmusik

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    6. Act II Scene 1: Benedict rätselt über Beatrice

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    7. Act II Scene 3: Lied des Balthasar: Ihr Mädchen klagt nicht Ach und Weh

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Hans Jörg Mammel

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    8. Act III: Prelude, "Gartenmusik"

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    9. Act III Scene 1: Intermezzo

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    10. Act III Scene 3: Holzapfel und Schlehwein (Marsch der Wache)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    11. Act III Scene 3: Verhaftung

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    12. Act III Scene 4: Mädchen im Brautgemach

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    13. Act IV Scene 1: Kirchenszene

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    14. Act IV Scene 2: Holzapfel und Schlehwein (Reprise)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    15. Act V Scene 3: Trauermusik

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    16. Act V Scene 4: Intermezzo (Reprise)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    17. Act V Scene 4: Schlusstanz

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    18. Act I: Meine Damen, meine Herren (Narrator)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    19. Act I: Gejagt waren sie alle! (Narrator) - Mein lieber Herr Professor - Song: Wovon sind Floh und Wanze so fröhlich und so fett? (Männchen)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    20. Act I: Das wirkte! (Narrator)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    21. Act I: Aber wenigstens (Narrator) - Das soll es un zeigen! (Bruder)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele, Ralf Wachter

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    22. Act II: Johannes seinerseits (Narrator)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    23. Act II: Zu diesen Beiden (Narrator)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele, Hans Fuhlbom

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    24. Act II: Mark aus ihren Knochen! (Männchen)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    25. Act III: Vorher aber (Narrator)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    26. Act III: Ich bin euer Kutscher (Männchen, Stella, Bruder, Katzwendel, Schöne Witwe, Kleriker, Gestorbener, Flötist, Kammerrätin Amalia, Tuchfabrikant, Johannes)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Sprechchor der Holst-Sinfonietta, Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    27. Act III: Ich will Ruhm! (Johannes, Marie, Speaking Chorus, Jünglingsgestalt) - Tanz der Grauweißen um den Feuerkreis

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Sprechchor der Holst-Sinfonietta, Holst-Sinfonietta

      Conductor: Klaus Simon

    28. Act III: Nein (Narrator)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

    29. Act III: Coda (Narrator)

      Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Ensemble: Holst-Sinfonietta

      Performer: Ekkehard Abele

      Conductor: Klaus Simon


Korngold’s greatest critical successes lay in the field of opera and in his film scores. The early sets of incidental music reflect these two elements, sharing the theatrical bravura of opera and anticipating his own later filmic techniques. The music for the Viennese production of Shakespeare’s much Ado About Nothing in 1920, heard here in full, is expressive and dramatic. Der Vampir, a psychological study of desire, seduction and greed, is rarely heard, but remains a potent example of Korngold’s instinct for directness of characterization.

“[It's] a pleasant surprise to be confronted with something completely unfamiliar…The Holst Sinfonietta performs these waltzes, flourishes and scarps of underscoring with considerable color and Schwung." -Gramophone

REVIEW:

This disc reaffirms – as if such proof were still necessary – just what a prodigious genius the young Erich Wolfgang Korngold was. The complete incidental music for Korngold’s score to Much Ado About Nothing runs to nearly fifty minutes of music brimming over with pointed musical characterisation, subtle scene-setting and gorgeous melody – all written before his twenty first birthday.

The playing of his Holst-Sinfonietta is uniformly excellent and the engineering manages to find a really effective balance between all the disparate instruments. Time and again I marvelled at the genius of Korngold’s lushly economical scoring.

A further attraction of this new disc for the Korngold completeist collector is the presence of the world premiere recording of his score to accompany Der Vampir oder Die Gejagten The Vampire or The Hunted). Written just three years later this is a fascinating score in the almost expressionist way the music instantly illuminates and comments on the drama.

The issue for the listener – especially the non-German speaking ones – is that the bulk of the music is underscoring dialogue. In this instance Cornelius Bauer (who also contributes the useful liner note) and conductor Klaus Simon have produced a concert version where a narrator explains the plot as well as performing a number of roles. Here Ekkehard Abele is the suitably dramatic narrator/voice. However, due to copyright issues the liner cannot reproduce any of the texts for the work. This is compounded by the fact that the liner briefly outlines the convoluted plot but gives no actual synopsis and no indication of which track/cue fits what part of the plot. Furthermore, it would appear that some of Korngold’s music has been lost. The score as it currently exists ends with an extended dream sequence but there are two more acts in the original play which include indications of further music cues. So what we have here is an attenuated arrangement of an incomplete score in an [potentially] unfamiliar language.

None of which sounds too enticing but this is where Korngold’s especial genius shines through. The instrumentation of Der Vampir is even smaller than Much Ado. Here he uses just flute, violin, cello, harp, piano and percussion as well as a Greek-style spoken chorus for the aforementioned dream-sequence. None of the music cues are anything like as extensive or self-contained either but goodness me they are effective. The playing here is every bit as skilled and apt as in the main work but this will remain very much an appendix to the main body of Korngold’s work.

The main value of this disc is the complete recording of Much Ado About Nothing which is immensely enjoyable. Der Vampir is valuable as a first recording and in the way it illustrates the range of Korngold’s skill especially at such a young age. The only real mystery is why such a valuable recording has sat in the Naxos vaults for nearly eight years.

-- MusicWeb International (Nick Bernard)