My interests are in classical music, history, good drama, detective stories and political novels. I ...
My interests are in classical music, history, good drama, detective stories and political novels. I write reviews to keep my brain sharp now that I have retired.
Member since:11.01.2009
Reviews:4
Erich Korngold is better known as one of leading Hollywood film composers before and just after the Second World War, and also one of a number of distinguished artists who fled to America from Nazi persecution. His Hollywood successes have detracted from his reputation as a classical composer to the extent that the Symphony, composed at the height of his movie successes, was dismissed at the time. It was not until the early 1980s that its musical quality was recognised by conductors, including Edward Downes, and a new generation of listeners were able to hear it for the first time.
Admittedly Korngold the film composer is not far away: the swagger of the outer movements could have come only from one responsible for the scores of The Sea Hawk and Captain Blood. But the best movement, the elegiac Adagio that forms the heart of this work, harks back to the earlier, pre-Hollywood Korngold, the wunderkind who encapsulated the late romantic styles of Mahler and his successors, Zemlinsky, Schreker and Kurt Weill. The Abschiedslieder that precede the Symphony on this CD come from this period in his life. The characeristic feeing of 'longing', especially in the first and third songs, comes from a long tradition in German romanticism. Returning to the Symphony, Korngold demonstrates his ability to write memorable tunes, whikle observing the strict architecture of the traditional, Beethoven, symphony: four movements, with a Finale that wraps the whole thing up confidently and positively after the stresses and strains of the previous movements.
Downes' performance is superb: the fine details of Korngold;'s orchestration are captured in one of Chandos's many excellent recordings. The only slightly negative comment I would add is about the soloist in the fine songs that precede the Symphony. Linda Finnie has a rich, creamy voice, but it needs to be firmer to do justice to these beautiful works. Maybe another conductor and another soloist (Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kozena - now that would be an ideal combination!) will make a recording of the Abschiedslieder in the near future.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
very helpful by (33%):
helpful by (67%):
