The Classic Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Ulf Hoelscher, Violin/South German Radio Symphony Orchestra/Willy Mattes, Conductor

All in all, this has been a pretty dismal season for record enthusiasts. The energy crisis, with its attendant petroleum shortages, has caused a world-wide shortage of vinyl, delaying many expected releases from major record companies and inhibiting the adventuresome innovations of others. Only the flood of releases of new recordings honoring Sergei Rachmaninov has stood out.

But now Angel Records has released a very unusual record, an inspiration, in fact. It is a recording of the best-known classical music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, best known for his film scores. Contained on this album are the first stereo recordings of three of Korngold's best works beautifully performed: his Violin Concerto in D Major, the “Much Ado About Nothing” Suite and the Theme and Variations, Op. 42. All are brilliantly successful works, particularly the Violin Concerto, which rivals the best of the great concertos in the Romantic tradition. The Concerto has been recorded once before, by Jascha Heifetz, with Alfred Wallenstein conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, but that two-decade old recording obscures the masterly orchestral parts of this work of art. Despite the brilliance of Heifetz' performance on that earlier version, this new recording must be deemed superior—if for no other reason than its gorgeously recorded sound.

Hoelscher is a young German violinist, and this is his American première recording. His rendition of the Korngold work is superb; his style of playing is suited perfectly to the mood of the work.

I must say without hesitation that Korngold's Violin Concerto is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. The first two movements, marked “Moderato nobile” and “Romance” are soft and flowing using the violin in the way it can be used most effectively: to evoke feelings of longing, of passionate yearning, of tenderness and searching intensity. The final movement is a lively and exhibitionistic one, ending in a brilliant virtuoso climax. It is the type of concerto which catches one from the opening few bars and keeps one's interest after innumerable hearings, a perfect “mood” piece.

The other two works on this album are also excellent, though very different. The early Suite from the Incidental Music to Shakespeare's “Much Ado About Nothing” is in an earlier romantic tradition, a lively and benevolent work which is also wonderfully melodic. The Theme and Variations is somewhat like a classical version of an Irish folk tune; an excellent companion to the other two works.

Korngold's music has been undergoing a revival of late, partly due to RCA's film scores series, and Angel is to be congratulated on releasing this additional excursion into his more serious music. As Tony Thomas writes in his “Music for the Movies” of Korngold: “Many people regarded him as the last master melodist among the composers of this century.” This recording shows such a judgment to be more than justified. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by R. A. Childs, Jr. / Classical Recording / BFL Price $4.95 (List Price $5.95)