Terrific second weekend! Actually there's still more tonight: a semi-staged Die tote Stadt. Highlights for me: HELIANE above all. The splendid film music program including VERTIGO, SONG OF BERNADETTE, and (with film) ROBIN HOOD, in a smashing performance. An impressive reading of the Symphony, which is slowly making its way into the repertory. And in the chamber program, Korngold's Third Piano Sonata and Rozsa's String Quartet No. 1. And those tables full of audio and video discs and books -- and even a Korngold T-shirt!
As you can read in the links above, Alex Ross is certainly doing his considerable best to bring the repertory around to embracing the Symphony.
Ross has only recently started talking about film music in a positive light. His glowing article last year about Williams’s last Star Wars score, is in direct opposition to his previous comments calling Williams a master “pasticheur” without a style of his own.
Thanks for the most welcome Alex Ross references. I confess that I skipped the most recent STAR WARS (The Last Jedi), having come to think the series had outstayed its welcome. How many times must we see a rebel force regrouping to cope with another Death Star or whatsit? Must give it a look and listen.
And, yes, the Brucknerian Adagio of the Korngold Symphony is one for the ages. I've been less enthusiastic about the other movements, especially the "Over There" finale. But Botstein's performance the other day has drawn me deeper into this important work.
