Search - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, William T. Stromberg, Moscow Symphony Orchestra :: Erich Wolfgang Korngold: The Sea Hawk; Deception

"Very well, Mr. Pitt--Show them how to lower those colors!"

William F. Flanigan Jr. | North Potomac, MD USA | 07/31/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THE SEA HAWK is presented on (or, rather, explodes from) CD 1 and the first half of CD 2--over 114 minutes in all. What we have here is the globally-acknowledged, consensus-based greatest film swashbuckler (or, to use Erich Wolfgang Korngold's term, "schwanzbuchler") score of the first half of the 20th Century. And, possibly, all of the last century plus--so far--the 21st Century. THE SEA HAWK is Korngold's most famous and greatest film symphony. A case could easily be made (Oscar or no Oscar award) that it is his finest New World composition period! This unparalleled music is also a major reason (if not THE reason) why Korngold's name lives on as one of the most accomplished (but vastly under rated and unappreciated) composer of our time. It has provided (and remains) the portal or spring board for many to discover his contagious and addictive catalog of compositions. THE SEA HAWK is Korngold's fourth (or third, since THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX [1939] is more talk than action) and, lamentably, final swashbuckler score.

The film was directed with "firm control" (to put it mildly) by no-nonsense Michael Curtiz. Likewise, the performance of the complete score in this remarkable recording is, indeed, conducted with firm control by Maestro Stromberg. Even casual listening quickly reveals the presence of orchestral voices never heard in previous recording (both original and re-recorded) plus the dark-panel richness of a superb and balanced performance (as well as sumptuous sound capture)--the audio equivalent of a rare Merlot. The impact is even more startling with studio monitors or similar high-end audio equipment. And any sound system will testify to the spot-on tempos and intra-thematic tempo changes that, up until now, only Korngold himself could pull off. Part of this pure pleasure is due to the larger orchestra demanded by the original score and provided in this recording compared to the smaller ensembles utilized for the concert suite and score fragments presented in previous modern recordings. Then there is the huge restoration and re-orchestration infrastructure that supports this peerless performance with John Morgan at the helm.

Once again Stromberg provides expansive evidence that he is clearly Korngold's modern-day conducting equal! Similarly, Restoration Magician Morgan demonstrates once again that he is well up to the combined skills of orchestrators such as Hugo Friedhofer, Milan Roder, Ray Heindorf, and Simon Bucharoff who formed Korngold's support group for THE SEA HAWK.

Typical of a Morgan and Stromberg undertaking, even the score for the theatrical trailer (CD 2, Track 10) is included. But this is no "ordinary" trailer music. Korngold's score for the original preview contains new variations on themes from the film's score and is presented in three parts (the trailer itself has long since vaporized). Previews for later re-releases of THE SEA HAWK (which are still around) use pieces of music from this original three parter.

DECEPTION (on CD 2) is one of Korngold's shorter film scores--it easily fits fully restored along with music from the original theatrical trailer on half a CD. This is because the film deals with the triangular trials and tribulations of those who happen to be in the classical-music business, and, naturally, Korngold included a hefty dose of music from a number of classical composers. His own score is scattered throughout the film, but as presented in this composite recording, you'd never know it. Talk about tonality!

Conducting and orchestral performance are once again top drawer in this remarkable recording. Maestro Stromberg has applied (as usual) the necessary orchestral discipline to successfully rekindle the raw energy that rendered Korngold's sound-track recordings without equal in their day (and still today in modern recordings by other conductors, although Charles Gerhardt comes close). Sound capture and mixing is first rate except for the opening moments of the Main Title (CD 2, Track 11) where individual instrument voices are a bit stream rollered by the orchestra at large. The restored Original Theatrical Trailer (CD 2, Track 24), courtesy of Mr. Morgan, makes one's ears pop with anticipation when contemplating the possibility of it being performed (sans any concretized "extension") in live performances.

The CD booklet is strictly an A-Team production. Mr. Rudy Behlmer, the de facto reigning Dean of "Golden-Age" Film Historians, probably knows more about Warner Bros. than Albert, Harry, Jack, and Sam ever did. In this extensive booklet, Behlmer expands upon his recent on-camera video-disc commentaries and hard-copy publications to provide a detailed (make that definitive) account of all matters regarding THE SEA HAWK, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, DECEPTION. This is a read you simply can't put down until done--the modern hallmark of an accomplished historian. Restoration and re-orchestration Master John Morgan offers an insider's view of the sheer enormity of time and resources (not to mention dedication and perspicacity) required to fully restore both film scores (see Q&A Sidebar for more). He also explains why it is physically impossible for the original score from THE SEA HAWK to be performed in a live concert setting as it was presented in the film and in this recording. Mr. Brendan Carroll, Korngold's definitive biographer, weighs in with essentially a note-by-note examination of both scores plus some fascinating new background information not included in his extensive Korngold biography (Note 2). Carroll possesses the innate ability to jump back and forth from the macro to the micro in analyzing musical compositions. Here he does it yet again!

DECEPTION, sadly, was Korngold's farewell to film symphonies. Korngold was offered several subsequent (and notable) films, but turned all of them down except one--MAGIC FIRE (1955). This is a film biography of composer Richard Wagner. Korngold was hired not to compose, but to edit, arrange, conduct, and supervise the scoring of Wagner's music. "I'll do it ... (but) only to protect Wagner" he remarked going in. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough. The film was DOA (dead on arrival) and remained so even after (or as a result of) numerous re-edits.

And so, Korngold ended his film-music career as he had begun it some 20 odd years earlier by massaging and conducting the music of another. His first "break-through" film was A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1935) where he reprocessed and conducted Felix Mendelssohn's music. Ironic (or intentional?) bookends."

I Don't Know What George Korngold or Charles Gerhardt Would

Researcher | Boulder, CO USA | 01/26/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"SYNOPSIS: Anyone who buys this recording needs to know that the vocals (particularly) and the orchestral quality are so compromised that it can in no way be called "definitive." Even an "Enigma Machine" could not decipher the slurred Russian singing. That is near "criminal" in view of all the effort expended to get the score right. My opinion is, that anyone who would give this any rating beyond three stars champions quantity over quality. For that, look to the Gerhardt (15:53 incredible minutes) and Kojian (44 munutes, likewise) recordings--if you can still find them. All the same, for SOME things (noted below) this recording is worth getting. So....



I find myself siding with Giovanna Visconti's review. I think it hit the mark. But, I would be just a bit more forgiving due to the historical fact that "every note" of THE SEA HAWK is, indeed recorded. But just for that. I base my own review on some of the statements George Korngold and Charles Gerhardt made to me when we exchanged some letters in 1973. More on that later--but first, some history.



Back when I was a lot younger--in the early 1950's--you COULD hear a classic score in a theater on a Saturday re-run matinee with other kids screaming and throwing popcorn boxes in the air. Sometimes, New York's WCBS' "Picture for a Sunday Afternoon" (which used Nino Rota's LEGEND OF THE GLASS MOUNTAIN as its theme) or late-night "New York Television Premiers" of THE SEA HAWK, CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, etc. would be treats. That was about it.



In the early 1970's, Charles Gerhardt and George Korngold got together with RCA to produce the first LP's to put this right--particularly with respect to the music of George's father, Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Some passages from, say, Korngold's THE SEA HAWK had appeared earlier (e.g., on Stanley Black's THE EPIC on London Phase 4). But they were not accurate (Black ends with a summation that is not Korngold's). So the Korngold-Gerhardt collaboration was something new and exciting.



The first of these LP's was THE SEA HAWK. Instantly, there was no comparison to the Black rendition. This was stunning!



But NOT EVERYBODY felt that way. A "critic" named Paul Kresh wrote a diatribe entitled "More KORN than GOLD" against the album when it first came out in High Fidelity. That did it. The Kresh attack was to me the rantings of both a lunatic and an idiot. I wrote to RCA pleading them not to let that review deter them from continuing this series. Little did I know that I had touched a REAL nerve. In fact, it turns out that I may have done my little bit to keep the flames of re-recording film scores going. You see, RCA itself was not totally convinced of the project--at first. To my great surprise and delight, I got answers from BOTH George Korngold and Charles Gerhardt. George Korngold said in his letter to me of July 26, 1973:



"The Kresh review was silly and malicious. It has been the Korngold family policy for 65 years not to answer unfavorable or nasty criticism - even personal attacks. My grandfather was the successor of Eduard Hanslick and as such was the most influential music critic of Vienna's leading newspaper the Neue Freie Presse. His memoires will appear in English next year. It was due to the fact that he was a critic and at the same time had the "audacity" to have a son that created music, that this doctrine of silence was pursued."



RCA's resistance to producing this series was discussed between George Korngold and myself in his letter to me of Sept. 10, 1973:



"Your very kind letter was forwarded to me here in London where I am at present putting the finishing touches on "Gone With The Wind" and "Classic Film Scores for Bogart". This makes Nos. 6 and 7 in our series. You have the first four, and No. 5, ELIZABETH AND ESSEX the second Korngold album is due out on the first of October. So, as you see, we are plodding on and it is people like you that have helped make it a success against all kind of resistance within RCA itself."



Point made: Early-on, it was anything but clear that recording the classic film scores of the likes of Korngold, Steiner, Waxman, Tiomkin, Rozsa, Newman, etc., would be as commercially successful as it turned out to be. For these and other reasons, George Korngold told me in that letter:



"Your idea of a complete score on an LP is a sort of Utopia. Naturally, GONE WITH THE WIND" will be on a single LP and will feature more music than ever recorded before. But this music was all arranged in a playable suite by Steiner himself which makes it musically possible. It would be quite difficult - without arranging - to make complete LP's of let's say "Virginia City" because there just isn't enough usable material. The same would go for a lot of scores. It is quite possible, though, that in the future we may put two films on an LP, such as "King's Row and "The Sea Hawk" or "Robin Hood". In Korngold there is ample material and one could even go up to an entire LP, but I do believe that the "creme de la creme" could be synopsised on one side."



A few years later, George Korngold was able to see some of his "Utopia" realized. He produced Gerhardt in KING'S ROW in 1979--an amazing turn of events, considering it was only six years before that he had thought such a production "Utopian." THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD--the first Kojian/Utah effort was recorded in 1983. Just before his death in 1987, he produced the Kojian/Utah Symphony's recording of THE SEA HAWK. These were not "every note" of the scores, but they were played with distinction in all cases.



It is not my purpose to list all the other SEA HAWK snippets which have been recorded (most of which are noted in the liner by Rudy Behlmer; interestingly, it is Behlmer who authored the notes to the Kojian recording which were essentially composed of what must have been one of George Korngold's last interviews). Let me simply say that if we want to get into what is "definitive," then the Gerhardt and Kojian recordings ARE and the present one which will now be discussed IS NOT.



I believe Stromberg and John Morgan TRULY want to do something significant---even great. I salute their (unachieved) GOALS. For it is too bad they didn't use a better orchestra, a better chorus, better sonics, and better recording engineers. In terms of HISTORICITY, this recording is significant. Buy it and add it to your collection to hear whenever you get into an "historical" frame of mind. But it should end there. For one thing, the Russian orchestra and chorus is not up to the level Korngold requires. Their playing lacks resolution and definition. The sound is muddy compared to Gerhardt (especially) and Kojian. Sorry, but this is the case of a noble effort undermined by trying to "do it on the cheap" by using a second-rate orchestra and second-rate recording means. What a WASTE! SHAME ON THEM for doing this "on the cheap." For all the effort to get the score (on paper) right, it fails due to execution. It is as if the world's best pastry chef decided to use margarine instead of butter and imitation vanilla instead of the real thing to save a few cents. SHAME!



Also, recording "every note" becomes too much of a good thing. George Korngold knew that, I think, when he said that we should look for the "creme de la creme." It comes down to this: There are two "schools" evolving around what to do with film scores. One (where I stand--and possibly Korngold and Gerhardt would, too) is that it should not be the objective to record everything and repeat things almost endlessly. The other is just the opposite, where the goal is to recreate the entire film in sound. Perhaps some people can stand that; I can't. I already have the Stromberg versions of Waxman's OBJECTIVE, BURMA!, as well as his rendition of Tiomkin's RED RIVER--and I hardly play them through. Too much. What needs to be considered is that Korngold (in particular) invented the technique where the music played beneath the dialogue--like a "talking opera." So, when we watch THE SEA HAWK THE FILM, the music is NOT what we are supposed to concentrate upon COMPLETELY in itself. It is many times subliminal. The whole reason for putting music into a film is to create atmosphere and emotion--but not to overwhelm the whole production. You either have a FILM SCORE--or you have a pure SYMPHONY--and you can't turn these into OPERAS, either. (Maybe the first few minutes of Korngold's ANTHONY ADVERSE are a musical experience because they are without dialogue. But that is the exception). These GREAT film scores are what they are: wonderful--for what they are. Wading through every note on a recording is to LISTEN--to CONCENTRATE--on every note. It was never the intent for the score to do that or be heard that way. In a sense, recording EVERYTHING is to contradict the very nature of the reason for the musical score in the first place. Korngold's music to THE SEA HAWK is NOT his Symphony in F Sharp and vice versa. That is yet another reason why I come down squarely in favor of the concise (yes, edited) Kojian recording for an extended suite of 44 minutes and Gerhardt's for just over 15 minutes of experiencing a true apotheosis. By such limiting, THE SEA HAWK approaches tone poem status rather than a MERE technical exercise--or a claim to something "new" on the album cover. I still do wish Stromberg and others of his "school" good luck. In the future it will no doubt still be better to have more recordings with too much, than fewer recordings of too few scores.



Now, the issue of using a Russian chorus and soprano needs to be addressed. Just as it does with Stromberg's recording of RED RIVER where "Settle Down" sounds like "Home on the Steppes," it is just too disconcerting to hear these lyrics in slurred "Russenglish." They should have had a natively English-speaking chorus and soprano--as Kojian's recording does.



First of all, the character of Dona Maria (Brenda Marshall in the film) was supposed to be half Spanish. So some kind of "accent"--even if it had not been so in the original AMERICAN film--can be "justified," I suppose. But Carol Wetzel's clarity in the Kojian version (produced by George Korngold and assisted by Ernst Korngold) is right on the mark. There is no counterpart of this song in the released Gerhardt material. And, again, the chorus "Strike for the Shores of Dover" can be heard with VIBRANT (seemingly YOUNG) American accents in the Kojian. Gerhardt's recording of this with the Ambrosian Singers is superb and the diction beyond belief--but the accents are decidely English (not to put too much onto that). So, which is "definitive" here? Well, the Kojian version, "historically." It may surprise a lot of people, but the English accent we have come to call "Shakespearian" is not that at all. Back in 1588, Sir Francis Drake would have sounded more like someone from (get this) NEW JERSEY, USA than OXFORD, ENGLAND. The accent we associate with "theatrical English" had not yet evolved. So, ironically, perhaps, the Utah recording should be considered "definitive" in this--as well as the fact that the 1940 film also used (I would assume, mostly) American voices. But if you listen to the Gerhardt with the Ambrosian Singers, the sound is coming from liberated sailors' souls reaching unto On High.



There is another recording out which I will touch upon before summing up. That is the Chandos recording of THE SEA HAWK under Rumon Gamba (CHAN 10438) which also appeared in 2007 as well. The playing is good, but the tempos are a bit off and there are only the male chorus parts recorded. They could have "somehow" found a soprano to include "Dona Maria's Song." As it is, the male chorus is only a bit better than the Russians on Stromberg. Very disappointing, considering they speak English to begin with. Again, historically HALF-interesting: it does have more NOTES than the Kojian recording and certainly more than the Gerhardt ones. But, no match for Gerhardt or Kojian.



So, here it all is in my opinion. I have to second Ms. Visconti in many of my suggestions:



1) Get the Gerhardt recordings--all of them--before you no longer can. THE SEA HAWK ALBUM (BMG 7890-2-RG) contains the extended version of THE SEA HAWK itself. That's 15:35 minutes of sheer excellence that are beyond comparison.



2) Dig up the now-discontinued (from Varese Sarabande VCD 47304) Kojian version. You will not regret having to track it down while you still can.



3) Buy the Stromberg for its few--but unique--merits AND THE LINER NOTES.



4) Look into getting the Gamba for a shorter suite than Stromberg's if you can't get the Kojian; AVOID it if you CAN. I will, for my part, probably never play the Gamba much, if at all. The liner notes, though ample, are not exceptional. The Gamba version is just irrelevant TO ME since I have the Gerhardt and Kojian recordings already. Three stars for Gamba, but that recording is flawed, too.



I want to re-emphasize that one great thing about the Stromberg recording is the LINER NOTES. For those alone, the Stromberg is worth buying.



Turning to DECEPTION, I shall be brief: Get ELIZABETH AND ESSEX which, as Gerhardt informed me back on June 21, 1973:



"The second volume of Korngold film music will be issued in October, called "Elizabeth and Essex" and includes that film, plus all the ones you mentioned, "Another Dawn," "Prince and the Pauper," and "The Sea Wolf." All the excerpts are quite long. Also included is the complete Cello Concerto from "Deception," and a long suite from "Of Human Bondage."



Because DECEPTION has never been recorded so completely, get the Stromberg on that. But, again, Gerhardt's version wins.



There is hardly a day that goes by that I do not have thoughts--however fleeting--of George Korngold, Charles Gerhardt and, needless to say, one of the greatest composing geniuses of all time, Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

























"

As for the nay-sayers: it's much ado about nothing

JC ESQ | Baltimore MD | 02/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First, to satisfy the paranoid among us, let me make clear that I have no connection whatsoever to anyone involved in the production of this disc. That said .... NOW ....



Respectfully, I would venture that both "Researcher" and "Visconti" have much, too much, time on their hands. This two-disc offering, totalling 145 minutes, and containing COMPLETE recordings of two of the best film scores ever written, plus original theatrical trailers for both films, PLUS the original version of the cello concerto that Korngold wrote for "Deception", is in my opinion one of the most important film recordings ever released, and it cost me TWLEVE DOLLARS. To write dissertation-length criticisms that consist mostly of splitting hairs does this disc a great disservice.



The Moscow Symphony performs spectacularly and brilliantly, the sonics are unmatched (at least as rendered by my $15,000 reference system), and Stromberg/Moscow match every bit of the energy and excitement of Gerhardt (who only recorded 15 MINUTES of "The Sea Hawk", and only the main title sequence and the expanded cello concerto of "Deception"). Don't underestimate the Sisiphyian task that has been accomplished by Naxos: John Morgan completely restored, reconstructed (as intended by Korngold), and reorchestrated the score manuscripts, to which considerable damage had been done by none other than Charles Gerhardt when he was preparing his incomplete recordings.



And all of that for $12.00, including liner notes that are worth at least as much. I don't discount the value of older recordings, or first issue recordings, of anything in the repertoire. But there is some unbridled nostalgia going on here. Gerhardt's recording certainly deserves praise; Kojian's effort with the Utah Symphony is not competitive. But both must now yield to this must-have issue which elevates Korngold's original orchestrations to the stratospheric heights they richly deserve."