Korngold Stadt

German soprano Dorothea Herbert submerged herself into the quietness we’ve all encountered during the COVID lockdowns. Society became to a full stop, an of course tragic time but also one that offered introspection. Die stille Stadt gives musical expression to that and became an album with a radiating program consisting of music by the unfortunately still underrated Alma Mahler, two breathtaking song cycles by Erich Korngold (including the famous aria ‘Glück, das mir verblieb’ from Die tote Stadt), completed by a selection of very powerful and illustrative songs by Franz Schreker.

Due to its disastrous Viennese premiere in 1954, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Symphony in F sharp was quickly dropped from the repertoire. Yet this late masterpiece, along with Korngold's opera Die tote Stadt, found receptive audiences in the 1970s and has become one of his best-known works. The old criticisms against Korngold's traditional tonality, his conservative formal bent, and his professional Hollywood polish no longer matter; nor should his occasionally spicy dissonances, angular melodies, and ambitious orchestration prove an obstacle to appreciation. Korngold's dense and dramatic symphony may be regarded either as a late development of Mahlerian post-Romanticism or as an offshoot of tonal Modernism, as practiced by Shostakovich and Prokofiev.

Korngold was just 23 when his most celebrated stage work was premiered in 1920 by no less than Otto Klemperer. The rich orchestration and brilliant bel canto vocal writing is here superbly realised by a cast led by Klaus Florian Vogt and Camilla Nylund, with 'conducting to die for' (The Guardian ★★★★★) from Mikko Franck. 'I regard Die tote Stadt as one of the greatest operas of the first quarter of the 20th century and the Finnish National Opera’s production makes it stand out as a true masterpiece, scenically and musically.' (Seen and Heard International)

Although Korngold’s ‘complete works for violin and piano’ make up a reasonably full disc, it is only fair to point out that the Violin Sonata is the single work that is not an arrangement from one of his other pieces. Yet this Sonata, written at the age of 15 for Carl Flesch and Artur Schnabel no less, is a fine example of his early style, with its echoes of Zemlinsky and early Schoenberg. The young Dutch violinist Sonja van Beek and German pianist Andreas Frölich negotiate its challenges with ease: as in Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata, the pianist has as tough a role as the melody instrument. Much Ado about Nothing is one of several arrangements of a suite of four movements derived from incidental music to Shakespeare’s play written in 1918, performed here with affection and a silken suavity. The remainder of the repertoire is made up of arrangements of Korngold lollipops, hit numbers from his operas, such as the unforgettable ‘Marietta’s Lied’ from Die tote Stadt, arranged by the composer as salon pieces and popularised by Kreisler and his ilk. Here, the almost vocal qualities of van Beek’s tone come into their own. An essential disc for the Korngold addict.

Gustav & Alma Mahler / Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Lieder
Angelika Kirschschlager / Helmut Deutsch, piano
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 257 MB | Full Artwork: 161 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Sony Classical # SK 68344 | Country/Year: Germany 1996
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Early 20th Century, Vocal, Lied

"…[The Korngold] songs are quite wonderful, and we listeners should be grateful for Kirchschlager's persuasive advocacy….Pianist Helmut Deutsch is several notches above most accompanists, with his consideration of the soloist and his expressive nuances…" ~American Record Guide

The Doric String Quartet is now firmly established as one of the outstanding quartets of its generation. Now in its eleventh season, it regularly performs at major festivals and venues throughout the UK as well as abroad in continental Europe and Asia. This is the Quartet’s debut CD on Chandos as exclusive artists. Most famous for his lushly romantic film scores, Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrote a quantity of music for the concert hall, the stage, as well as three highly individual string quartets between the years 1920 and 1945. Korngold was one of the great prodigies in the history of classical music, and by the time he started work on his First String Quartet (completed 1923), he had already written what many consider to be his magnum opus, the opera Die tote Stadt.