New Recording of Korngold's Symphony in F# and other works

[brendangcarroll]

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205220

John Wilson has revived the Sinfonia of London as a recording orchestra, with hand picked players, in this initial release - an all-Korngold album

The actual CD is not released in the shops until the middle of September but (as you can see here) it is already possible to download the recording directly from the Chandos website.

If you click on the small link to each movement, you can hear a few minutes of each track without purchase, to get a flavour of the recording. I think the Scherzo is possibly the fastest that it has ever been on records - Korngold loved a fast tempo and would love it!

[Alan Howe]

Thanks. Think I'll just wait and see whether this is a necessary purchase. There are, after all, several really fine recordings of the Symphony, e.g. Welser-Möst/Philadelphia, Marc Albrecht/StrasbourgPO, Previn/LSO, etc.

You are right, though. Looks as though John Wilson is pretty swift (throughout, actually) - and he's a whizz at this corner of the repertoire, so...

[MartinH]

Well, it's Korngold and of course I'll get it, despite having every other version out there. Even his film music is recorded enough. If Chandos needs ideas, how about this? Last evening I was entertained with an odd old Hammer film, The Four Sided Triangle, with a terrific score by Malcolm Arnold. Enough Korngold, how about some movie music from 1950s British SciFi  and horror.

[Alan Howe]

This is definitely a necessary purchase! I've never heard a conductor and orchestra tear into the music like this. And the playing is stupendous - especially from the strings. They're almost Philadelphia-like.

I'd be interested to know how close Wilson is to the score's tempo markings. If he's close, then every performance up till now has been too slow...

[MartinH]

I've been living with this recording for a week now and it is terrific. The conducting, the playing and the Chandos SACD sound - all superb. It's a ferociously difficult score - but the players he got for this new orchestra are completely on top of it. If this were the only recording of the work I could have, it would not be a bad thing. Odd, isn't it, that in all these years with so many recordings of the symphony, few big names (Franz Welser-Most and Previn) have taken it up. The Kempe can be ignored as far as I'm concerned. Those cuts were really ill-advised. Wilson definitely moves the thing along quickly - there are tempo indications in Italian in the score, but no metronome markings. Dare we hope for more Korngold from Wilson? Or maybe turn his attention to another symphony by a film composer that could really use a new recording: Bernard Herrmann's?

[Alan Howe]

<<Despite the ensemble's heritage, Wilson says there are no plans to record soundtracks though: 'We have very clear aims, which is to make gramophone records – which I know is a sort of old fashioned concept – we're just very, very slowly and steadily hoping to build up a catalogue of interesting records.' The next release, due early 2020 and already recorded, will be of French orchestral works by Chabrier, Ibert, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Duruflé and Ravel.>>
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/john-wilson-revives-the-sinfonia-of-london

[brendangcarroll]

Though there are no metronome markings in the score, there is a unique private recording on acetates (unissued but I do have a tape of it) of Korngold playing the entire work on the piano as a guide to tempi, for Vladimir Golschsmann, who was supposed to conduct the US premiere in 1955 (it was cancelled when he broke his arm - his 'conducting' arm!).

John Wilson is very close indeed to Korngold's preferred tempi.

[Alan Howe]

That's good to know - thanks.

[MartinH]

Now there's a recording that should be issued! Or at least put on Youtube.

[semloh]

I agree, Martin. I wonder if there are any legal or ethical impediments, given that it's a 'private recording' ... Brendan?

John Wilson is so full of energy and initiative, and I love his conducting. His longstanding love of this type of music always shines through. He also seems to develop a strong rapport with orchestras, and this surely underlies his success with this new venture.

[brendangcarroll]

The rights to Korngold's private recording rest with his estate. My tape was a gift from his late son George some 40 years ago, but with the strict proviso that I not copy it or issue it commercially, and I gave him my word.

Call me old fashioned but I have stuck to that promise. If the Korngold Estate ever decides to issue the recording, I will of course post details here!

[Alan Howe]

Quite right too.

[ewk]

Let's hope the Korngold estate will decide to publish it at some point. And if it's only to hear more of Korngold's fantastic piano playing... I absolutely love the 20 minutes of his party improvisations available on YouTube!

[semloh]

Thanks for your response, Brendan. Fully agree with your position, of course.

[Alan Howe]

Oh, dear: David Hurwitz savages this recording:
https://www.classicstoday.com/review/video-review-pointless-korngold-from-wilson-and-the-sinfonia-of-london/

Basically, he says the Symphony's too quick, it lacks colour, the scherzo is a scramble and the pick-up orchestra are just doing a sight-reading job. Perhaps that's how it sounds to those used to slower, more luxuriant performances?

I'm reminded of Hurwitz's reaction to Neeme Järvi's account of Raff 5 when that came out (when compared to, say, Bernard Herrmann's).