Due to work pressures I was unable to attend the Heliane concert. Thank you Brendan for being so clear in your support of the performance as I made the mistake of reading most of the reviews first. I have to be honest, I almost became quite depressed about them. If I were ignorant of Korngold while ...

Hi I have just noticed that the DVD 'Hilary Hahn-A Portrait', an hour long documentary portrait of her during a tour, has several excerpts of the Korngold Violin concerto. As one of the DVD extras the whole concerto has been filmed. It is from a concert by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at...

Hiya I very much enjoyed the programme. I wanted to ask however if any of the material on the programme, eg the Korngold party piano playing, or the interviews and items featuring Korngolds family will ever make it into the public domain? As someone who only got into Korngold after the death of Korn...

Hiya Surely you are not serious that the tempo of the new Chandos Sea Hawk is swifter than the Naxos. Have you heard the whole thing? Although there is much to like with Gamba, and his orchestra is obviously superior to the Moscow forces, I found myself frustrated at the slowness of significant sect...

Hi folks I have just noticed that the recent Renee Fleming recording of 'Ich soll ihn niemals....' from Die Katrin is on the compillation CD for the classical brit awards. I know all self respecting Korngoldians will probably have it already, but it will do no harm being spread to an obviously large...

Hiya If you have not seen the film ( and I have bizarrely only seen it in German, thankfully with most of the Korngold music unusually still intact) a good comparison to back up Brendans point is this. Listen to the compilation ' The Warner Bros Years' on Turner and on CD 1 track 8 (titled-- To the ...

Hiya You ask about the recording of Deception. I think this has turned out surprisingly well considering that most of the cues are short and often variants of a small amount of themes mixed with atmospherics. Played together here it sounds not dissimilar to the subtle darkness of a Roy Webb score fo...

Good on you Brendan After a first listen when I was perhaps a bit over critical about one or two aspects of the recording compared to the perfect recording I have had in my head for years, I have grown to love this recording. Any niggles I have really are minor and I think it is the Moscow orchestra...

I saw die Tote Stadt only once in Cologne and I thought it was fairly okay compared to the type of production you have described, and also the french DVD production. They played it like a Hollywood movie, like Vertigo in fact, which I suppose makes some vague sense in relation to the opera. Sadly I ...

Hiya On my copy of the Robin Hood DVD it states quite clearly on the box that as part of DVD 2, Bonus Materials, there should be an audio only section featuring a 1938 radio show and a Korngold Piano Session. However, on putting the DVD in the player there seems to be absolutely no mention of this o...

I have just noticed, while flicking through the racks of my CD store emptily longing for the ever unreleased recording of the Sea Hawk, that the Mauceri recording of Das Wunder der Heliane has been re-released by Decca and is now easily available, and packaged differently. I only wish I did not own ...

Hiya Yes, that's true. I do get frustrated when you read lists of greatest soundtracks ever and what you find are nothing but well known popular songs with barely a hint of orchestra in them. I think in this classic FM era of 5 minute segments it will be difficult to play the best of Korngold, Rozsa...

Hiya I don't think we should be getting too upset about borrowings from other works in film music. Borrowing has always happened and at one time it was not only blatant but acceptable. Large swathes of Handel are reworkings of melodies from many of his contemporaries and don't suffer for the reworki...

Hi Dennis I suppose such a question to the Korngold fanatic is a bit like offering us far too many rich foods at a banquet to choose from. Honestly, I could not restrict myself. However one regret I have with the existing recordings is that the complete Sea Hawk has not been released. Now, I don't k...

Hello As someone who cannot really travel around to see Korngold concerts, I was wondering what experiences you have had with your local orchestras in matters Korngoldian. If you have heard Korngold concerts, what pieces have been played and how frequently do they appear? I am always intrigued to he...