WETA FM 90.9 Blog

Library Building" posts are reviews of recordings I find to be essential to every good collection of classical music - recordings of interpretations that are the touchstone for their repertoire.

On May 18th the Korngold exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Vienna will close – and if you have not been there yet and won’t be able to stop by Vienna this spring, you can still enjoy the essence of Korngold from his music. For that purpose I have put together a list of what I think are essential (and non-essential, but beautiful) Korngold works – and my favorite recordings thereof.

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Concerto for Violin op.35 & Much Ado about Nothing, op.11 Suite with Gil Shaham and André Previn (Deutsche Grammophon 439886 – also contains the Barber Violin Concerto). Two great romantic violin concertos and played with utmost mastery and beauty. Unlike on his later recording with Anne-Sophie Mutter (coupled with an unattractively played Tchaikovsky concerto), Previn neither plays up the film music aspect (much to the performance’s benefit), nor does Shaham self-consciously struggle against it’s Hollywood-ring (as does Heifetz, for example).

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Das Wunder der Heliane with John Mauceri conducting (Decca 829402). For any lover of 19th and 20th century opera, this really is a must-have. (I have written about it here before, and it made my Best-of-2007 list.)

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Die Tote Stadt either with Leif Segerstam (on Naxos 660060) or the classic 1975 recording under Erich Leinsdorf (RCA Victor Gold Seal 7767). Die Tote Stadt is a standard work in the canon of romantic opera – and with this surprisingly tenacious, evenly cast, and marvelously conducted challenger on Naxos, Leinsdorf finally has competition to take seriously.

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Sextet with the Raphael Ensemble (Hyperion 66425). This disc (Roger Tapping plays the viola on it, by the way) also contains Schoenberg’s lovely “Verklärte Nacht”. Two of the most wonderful chamber works from that period from composers that would go into such different directions, musically, if not geographically.

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Symphony in F-sharp (dedicated to F.D. Roosevelt) with Franz Welser-Möst and the Philadelphia Orchestra (EMI 86101). Quite possibly the best recording of this Symphony at any price – but definitively so at EMI’s budget price. This is sumptuousness become manifest. Barbara Hendricks’ Simple Songs”, op.9 (4 out of 6) and Marietta’s famous aria from Die Tote Stadt are more than just fillers.

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Concerto for Piano Left Hand with Marc-André Hamelin and Osmo Vänskä (Hyperion 66990 – also contains Joseph Marx’ Piano Concerto). There really isn’t a recording to challenge Hamelin’s account. If the Violin concerto could be thought of Korngold’s Rosenkavalier, the Piano concerto would be his “Salome” (Gary Graffman). The coupling with the deliciously über-romantic Marx is ideal.

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Sursum Corda, Sinfonietta with the BBC Philharmonic under Matthias Bamert (Chandos Classics 10432x). These are two early symphonic works and they are tremendous achievements, rivaling the Symphony for bristling romanticism. Bamert and his forces revel in every aspect of it. In Chandos’ very welcome series of Korngold re-issues, this one should probably rank the highest.

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The Sea Hawk and other classic film scores in excerpts on a magnificent recording with Charles Gerhardt on RCA Victor Gold Seal 7890 – possibly difficult to find but worth seeking out. (ArkivMusic offers this as an Arkiv Disc!) If you want to hear the very complete music of Sea Hawk, go with William Stromberg’s very fine recent Naxos recording.

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Piano Sonatas (complete) with Michael Schäfer (Profil Hänssler 4083) – superbly performed in every respect.

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Suite for Piano left hand & Strings op.23 played by an star-powered ensemble made up of Leon Fleisher, Yo-Yo Ma, Jamie Laredo, and Joseph Silverstein (Sony 48253) – coupled with the Franz Schmidt Left-hand Piano Quintet.

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