Korngold, Goldmark: Violin Concertos

Excellent Performances of Chestnuts!

The odd thing about the violin concerti by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Karl Goldmark is that though everyone seems to regard these as staples in the orchestral repertoire and popular among concertgoers, there are very few recordings of them. Yes, some of the gold standard recordings such as those by Heifitz are apparently out of the catalogue, but given all the fine young fiddlers on the concert stages it would deem there would be more contemporary recordings.

This CD is a very fine combination of the two works as performed by violinist Vera Tsu and the Razumovsky Sinfonia conducted by Yu Long. Tsu's approach is straightforward which serves these works well. Too often soloists milk the romance found here to the point of sounding maudlin. Though there are violinists with a bigger and richer sound than Tsu's, these readings are respectful of the scores and are very lovely to hear. Yu conducts with thoughtful support, and when the orchestra is given time alone - away from the soloist - Yu pulls out the beautiful melodies and the tensions well. This is a fine introduction to these two concerti and it seems from hearing them performed here that they should once again enter the standard repertoire. Grady Harp, October 05 October 21, 2005

Beautiful romanticism

This disk is well worth buying if only for the Korngold concerto. Korngold was born in Austria in the late 19th century and was recognized as a prodigy. Mahler supposedly proclaimed him a genius. Yet Korngold's "classical" output is relatively small. He moved to Hollywood in 1934 and scored about 20 movies, winning 2 Oscars. The time will come when movie music takes its place as serious "classical" music of the 20th century - alongside, e.g., Purcell's music for the popular theater of his own day - but that day is not yet. Korngold's reputation as a "serious" composer probably suffered, but he wrote some fine scores in the European romantic tradition. He became a naturalized US citizen. He wrote this concerto after World War II, and Heifitz premiered it.

It is a work of fine, late romanticism. The Chinese-born but Julliard-trained violinist, Vera Tsu, gives a beautiful performance. A Heifitz performance is still in the catalog. I haven't heard it, but comparisons in any event can be unfair, and Tsu's performance is quite beautiful in its own right and virtuosic when it needs to be. This recording is very easy to enjoy. March 15, 2005

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