Erich Wolfgang Korngold

[Symphonic Addict]

Listening to the string quartets from this spectacular recording blew me away. It's been years since my last listen to these magnificent works, I barely remembered something about them, and today they revealed themselves as strong, cohesive masterpieces or quasi-masterpieces. If Korngold is refined in his orchestral writing, in these chamber works he is even more sophisticated. His use of some dissonances and astringent gestures aimed to highlight the sensuality, to enrich the intimacy in a way that one feels involved in the musical discourse; the slow movement from the String Quartet No. 1 exemplifies that very well, a remarkable movement. The Aron Quartett set the bar very high, so I see difficult that these performances may be bettered, it's playing of the highest degree and the music is treated with complete understanding. Serious fans of Korngold shouldn't miss this set!

[relm1]

Some seriously beautiful music here!

[Irons]

Listened to a BBC "Building a Library" download of Korngold's Violin Concerto. Vilda Fran came out top choice. More interest for me was the comment from the reviewer that although he uses themes from his film music in the concerto, Korngold's film music today sounds dated whereas the Violin Concerto transcends time and doesn't sound dated at all.   

[Spotted Horses]

Listening to the string quartets from this spectacular recording blew me away. It's been years since my last listen to these magnificent works, I barely remembered something about them, and today they revealed themselves as strong, cohesive masterpieces or quasi-masterpieces. If Korngold is refined in his orchestral writing, in these chamber works he is even more sophisticated. His use of some dissonances and astringent gestures aimed to highlight the sensuality, to enrich the intimacy in a way that one feels involved in the musical discourse; the slow movement from the String Quartet No. 1 exemplifies that very well, a remarkable movement. The Aron Quartett set the bar very high, so I see difficult that these performances may be bettered, it's playing of the highest degree and the music is treated with complete understanding. Serious fans of Korngold shouldn't miss this set!

I've had this set for ages (since it came out, perhaps) but never found time to listen. A 15 second sample of the first quartets makes it clear that this is my sort of thing. Must find time for it.

[Symphonic Addict]

I've had this set for ages (since it came out, perhaps) but never found time to listen. A 15 second sample of the first quartets makes it clear that this is my sort of thing. Must find time for it.

That will be time well spent.

[The new erato]

They are doing Die Tote Stadt in Bergen in November. I will be there.

[relm1]

They are doing Die Tote Stadt in Bergen in November. I will be there.

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