I've gotten some stellar reccomendations regarding this composer from FSM's own Yavar. But of course I'd love to hear others' input here, please. I've never owned a single score (or heard that much), so this is a new adventure for me.
I'm eyeing the FSM King's Row/Sea Wolf recording hard, plus it's hard to resist the Stromberg rerecording two for one (the latter despite what seems to me a prevalence of flatly mixed efforts on other recordings by Stromberg...and heck no I'm not including things like the massively well done Fahrenheit 451, Mysterious Island, etc.).
Any help is greatly appreciated, I know I can ask for help here at FSM with total confidence
As many people here know, I'm mostly into the old stuff: Rozsa, Herrmann, and Alfred Newman are all in my top 10 of favorite composers (and by that I mean they're on the same list with Beethoven, Bach, and Mahler).
Whilst I should normally recommend full scores, for Mr. Korngold I would suggest the two albums of re-recordings of themes/suites by Charles Gerhardt with the National Philharmonia Orchestra (1972/73). These cover a good proportion of his scores and each and all are enjoyable performances.
I can't say that they're totally authentic as I don't know the originals that well (if at all) but there are some excellent recordings in the total of 19 tracks. Note that the albums are sometimes listed under the names of The Sea Hawk and Elizabeth and Essex as pre-fixes to The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Newer re-recordings are found under the baton of Rumon Gamba with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (2004 & 07) but these are concentrated on three scores: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk and The Sea Wolf. This last one is my favourite partly because it is somewhat different, not the rumbustious sounds found in some of the scores.
Away from his film scores I can happily recommend his Violin Concerto, Op.35 - e.g. Benedetti / Karabits / Bournemouth Symphony Orch / 2012 ... highly enjoyable.
Whilst I should normally recommend full scores, for Mr. Korngold I would suggest the two albums of re-recordings of themes/suites by Charles Gerhardt with the National Philharmonia Orchestra (1972/73). These cover a good proportion of his scores and each and all are enjoyable performances.
I can't say that they're totally authentic as I don't know the originals that well (if at all) but there are some excellent recordings in the total of 19 tracks. Note that the albums are sometimes listed under the names of The Sea Hawk and Elizabeth and Essex as pre-fixes to The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Newer re-recordings are found under the baton of Rumon Gamba with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (2004 & 07) but these are concentrated on three scores: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk and The Sea Wolf. This last one is my favourite partly because it is somewhat different, not the rumbustious sounds found in some of the scores.
Away from his film scores I can happily recommend his Violin Concerto, Op.35 - e.g. Benedetti / Karabits / Bournemouth Symphony Orch / 2012 ... highly enjoyable.
Mitch
Heyy, another film composer with great chamber music to his credit!
I've noticed in general that Gephardt did some really fine work with rerecordings.
I agree with the two Korngold recordings conducted by Charles Gerhardt. The best extended recording of one Korngold score, by far, is the Kings Row recording conducted by Gerhardt, originally released on a Chalfont LP, then reissued on a Varese Sarabande CD that I think is discontinued now, but keep an eye out for it. One of the latest recordings of the Korngold Violin Concerto played by Vilde Frang and coupled with the Britten Violin Concerto is revelatory. The best recording of Korngold's Symphony in F#is conducted by Marc Albrecht on a sensational sounding Pentatone hybrid SACD.
I first encountered Korngold via the Gerhardt recordings, but you really cannot go wrong with jumping right in with the full scores of both The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk. Neither of these have anything remotely like 'filler'. Pure (Korn) Gold from start to finish.
I agree with MusicMad that the best place to start with Korngold is with the Gerhardt recordings. Korngold's film music has never been better performed.
The two essential ones are THE SEA HAWK: THE CLASSIC FILM SCORES OF ERICH WOLfGANG KORNGOLD and CAPTAIN BLOOD: CLASSIC FILM SCORES FOR ERROL FLYNN. You can combine suites from these two albums to get larger representations of his two greatest scores: The Sa Hawk and The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Next, you may want to explore the expanded albums for Sea Hawk and Robin Hood that Varese Sarabande produced with conductor Varujan Kojian and the Utah Symphony Orchestra. These were produced by the composer's son, George Korngold, and are really good performances.
Then there are the full scores that John Morgan and Bill Stromberg produced for Naxos/Marco Polo. These contain some wonderful music and moments of fine performance; although the orchestra seems a bit hesitant and confused in the most complex parts compared to Gerhardt. Still, they're irresistable for the parts missing form the Gerhadt and Kojian recordings.
Gerhardt's ELIZABETH AND ESSEX album contains the best performance of the cello concerto. It's better than any of the versions the classical labels have attempted in subsequent years.
And speaking of ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, the complete recording of this score by conductor Carl Davis has many critics on this board, but I happen to think it's a magnificent performance, and the score itself is simply wonderful and worthy of the composer's oft-quoted assertion that his film scores were like "operas without singing."
I do not recommend the Previn recording. His tempi is sluggish throughout and the performance lacks inspiration compared to Gerhardt. This was surprising after he did such a fine job with Korngold's Symphony.
It was inevitable you would eventually get into Korngold, with your love of well structured counterpoint, dramatic music, and Germanic favourites.
Whilst it's not a great idea here to post stuff that probably shouldn't even be on YouTube, it's good for sales and publicity, so try these three vids:
Firstly, Charles Gerhardt's long suite (actually incomplete here) from 'The Sea Hawk' with the NPO on RCA. The NPO was a session broadcast/recording orchestra in London, with moonlighters from the LSO, RPO, LPO, and Sinfonia, and was world class:
That score has been fully recorded on Naxos by the Tribute team in Moscow, mostly on Chandos with the BBC Phil, and on a beautiful release for Varese in Utah. Be advised that different releases of the Gerhardt suite are of different lengths, because two suites were spliced into one for a later reissue.
Then watch this BBC Royal Albert Hall video of John Wilson and 'The Adventures of Robin Hood':
Tribute folks also released this on Naxos. There's again a Utah recording on Varese, and an old archive radio version with Rathbone narration (not overlay) and Korngold himself.
Then try this video of 'Much Ado About Nothing', a concert work of a stage theatre score:
Try the violin concerto, (especially Heifetz) which was based on several themes from films.
I've gotten some stellar reccomendations regarding this composer from FSM's own Yavar. But of course I'd love to hear others' input here, please. I've never owned a single score (or heard that much), so this is a new adventure for me.
WA, these kinds of threads occasionally appear, and I always find them a bit baffling. For one, your topic title "Help Me Get Into Korngold, Please!" gives the impression that you're not that overly impressed with what you've heard so far, feel "guilty" (or whatever) about it, or feel you "need" to like his music more - which is what strikes me as strange. We like what we like. I know that's an over-simplification, but I'm looking for a kind of shorthand to convey the essence of what I mean.
Then you say, "I've never owned a single score, or heard that much". Aren't you trying to build a house starting with the roof? I know that Yavar has been very helpful regarding other composers, but if we all suggest scores and recordings which WE like, there's no guarantee that YOU will like them, especially as in this case you seem to imply that you don't even know if you like his work.
I'm obviously not telling you what to do, but wouldn't it be more productive to go to YouTube (for example, although sound clips and more are available on plenty of sites), type in his name, see what comes up, spend an hour or so dipping into the stuff which is up, deciding yourself if it's something you really want to pursue, and THEN ask for suggestions about the best recordings of scores that have stood out for you, even if it's only after hearing a short suite, or a Main Title? I know you've done that in the past (asking about the best release of PAPILLON for example), so this one's a bit odd.
Not trying to be conflictive - just intererested in what you expect.
May I also suggest BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. There's an excellent recording on Decca that also contains Korngold's "Theme and Variations" and "Symphonic Serenade."
[1]May I also suggest BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. There's an excellent recording on Decca that also contains Korngold's "Theme and Variations" and "Symphonic Serenade."
I have three different versions of 'The Sea Hawk' - the Varese Utah Symphony; the Stromberg; and the Tsunami.
I think the Tsunami is the original itself, so to speak, conducted by Korngold, though the sound quality isn't great due to it being from the original recordings (?)
I like the Varese version, partly because that was the first version I had (on tape, but now I also have it on CD).
But my goto version would be the Stromberg, but that's just my personal preference.
If you want something of a sampler of Korngold, go for the 'Classic Film Scores...' one by Gerhardt, it'll give you a better overview of EWK's scores.
First bit of Korngold I ever heard was Gerhardt's Adventures of Robin Hood on an old Reader's Digest vinyl boxed set I encountered while browsing through the record collection of a friend's sister.
My first Korngold purchase was the very fine Sea Hawk recording by Kojian and the Utah Symphony, produced by George Korngold. I subsequently picked up the Robin Hood recording done by the same team. Brilliant performances and sound quality.
In addition to the Gerhardt albums already mentioned (the two Korngold specifics + the Erroll Flynn album with music by other composers), I llike the Lionel Newman conducted album:
If you want full recordings, Stromberg's Sea Hawk and Robin Hood are often recommended, but I also like his recording of Prince & The Pauper quite a bit.
There is a Varese recording of Anthony Adverse, which some people don't like - but there's no alternative. The Amazon link has a bootleg cover art, but that was at one point the listing for the Varese Sarabande CD.
There is no better introduction to a Korngold score than his SEA HAWK (Varese) produced by George Korngold with the Utah Symphony conducted by Varujan Kojian. Outstanding performance and sound. There is a lovely flow to the music on this beautifully-constructed album.
The Stromberg/Morgan Sea Hawk full score is ruined by a ghastly soprano with perhaps the ugliest and most inappropriate vocal performance in the entire history of film music re-recordings.
I have several versions of the Violin Concerto and my current favorite for both sound and performance is the James Ehnes version on Onyx label.
Seriously, you can't go wrong with that recording. Only issue I had with it was a very blatantly obvious brass insert that was probably done to cover up a performance flub.
Interesting point about the soprano, which cues are affected? It's been so long since I listened to the score, I don't remember any soprano work.
Interesting point about the soprano, which cues are affected?
Maria's Song. Disc 1, track 15. Programming it out isn't really an option because it is joined to previous and subsequent orchestral cues. The Kojian recording uses a far more appropriate and pleasing vocalist.
