When Erik Korngold was serving in the first world war as music director for his regiment, the General once remarked: “Isn't it a little fast, Korngold? The men can't march to that”. To which Korngold replied: “Ah yes, well, you see Sir, this was composed for the retreat”. Being Austrian by birth , but of Jewish descent, Korngold, a few years later, was to organise his own “retreat”, escaping to the USA when the Nazi regime came to power. Although composing scores for opera was his forte, Korngold was persuaded by Warner Brothers to write incidental music for films. He regarded his films as ‘operas without singing’, and it is said of him: “he was the musical prodigy who brought the sound of Wagner and Puccini to Hollywood”. Sensing, however, that when a film left public view so did his music, Korngold returned to more serious composition. His violin concerto nearly didn’t make it past its premiere. Panned by critics as “more corn than gold” it rocketed to fame when no less a violinist than Jascha Heifitz took it on board, and the rest is history, as they say. Interestingly the opening melody is the flight/love theme from the film “Another Dawn” – which Korngold had envisaged as a concerto theme years before the film. This concerto was the foundation on which the second of our sessions for June was based: a Cuban Overture by George Gershwin, a Spanish dance by Maurice Ravel, and the Symphonic Suite from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story making up the programme.
The month’s earlier session was somewhat more traditional, although Brahms’ 3rd Symphony was not regarded by the composer as such, casting it as ‘contemporary’. Seen by some as ‘modernist’ and ‘romantic’, the symphony does break away from common convention ever so slightly - its successive movements, for example, each end quietly. Dvorak’s Carnival Overture, a Chopin Polonaise, and a piano concerto by Felix Mendelssohn scintillatingly played by Stephen Hough, served, however, to keep the programme in ‘traditional’ mode. Session notes and recordings played may be accessed by clicking on the relative links below.
Bill Squire.
13th June
Session Notes
Dvorak - Carnival Overture
Brahms - Symphony No.3
Chopin - Polonaise Opus 44
Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto No.1
27th June
Session Notes
Gershwin - Cuban Overture
Korngold - Violin Concerto
Ravel - Alborada del Gracioso
Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
The month’s earlier session was somewhat more traditional, although Brahms’ 3rd Symphony was not regarded by the composer as such, casting it as ‘contemporary’. Seen by some as ‘modernist’ and ‘romantic’, the symphony does break away from common convention ever so slightly - its successive movements, for example, each end quietly. Dvorak’s Carnival Overture, a Chopin Polonaise, and a piano concerto by Felix Mendelssohn scintillatingly played by Stephen Hough, served, however, to keep the programme in ‘traditional’ mode. Session notes and recordings played may be accessed by clicking on the relative links below.
Bill Squire.
13th June
Session Notes
Dvorak - Carnival Overture
Brahms - Symphony No.3
Chopin - Polonaise Opus 44
Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto No.1
27th June
Session Notes
Gershwin - Cuban Overture
Korngold - Violin Concerto
Ravel - Alborada del Gracioso
Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
