Search - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Andre Previn, London Symphony Orchestra :: Korngold: The Sea Hawk / The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex / Captain Blood / The Prince and the Pauper

NO POPCORN NEEDED

MOVIE MAVEN | New York, NY USA | 03/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There have been several recordings of the wonderful film scores written by Erich Korngold. None though is quite as exciting and red-blooded as this recording of four suites from films that starred Errol Flynn, conducted by Andre Previn: "The Sea Hawk," "Captain Blood," "The Private Life of Elizabeth and Essex" and my personal favorite, "The Prince and the Pauper" (the theme from which became the finale of Korngold's Violin Concerto.)You can absolutely hear the fun the London Symphony is having playing this terrific, swaggering music. Most film music sounds flabby without the movies, themselves, but Korngold's scores can obviously stand alone without cinematic help. Here is a classically oriented CD that actually will put a huge smile on your face."

Sumptuous Sound, Ponderous Performance.

William F. Flanigan Jr. | North Potomac, MD USA | 02/16/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Good News (Part I): A new recording of excerpts (or cues)
from Erich Wolfgang Korngold's film symphonies by a major
orchestra and conductor. The Not-So-Good News: there are far
better CD recordings of these cues. The Good News (Part II): many
of the other recordings are still in print (and available off
this Web site). All cues on this CD are of the garden variety
having been recorded many times before. The orchestra sounds (and
is) powerful, but the conducting lacks energy big time. In other
hands, you will get extremely dynamic, dramatic, and exciting
results (which, of course, is what the composer intended). On a
brighter note, Mr. Brendan Carroll (Korngold's definitive
biographer and the one who knows more about the composer than any
living being) has provided a CD booklet that is both educational
and a delightful read (his usual writing style) filled with just
the right level of technical observations as well as little-known
(or not previously known), fascinating information about the
composer. There are also some rare photos. Now to some music
specifics. THE SEA HAWK excerpts comprise a very sleepy rendering
of what is otherwise an extremely dynamic exciting score.
Transitions between clues are sometimes far from seamless and
jarring. It cries out for the addition of a male chorus.
ELIZABETH AND ESSEX cues suffer from monochromatic, passionless,
and somnambulistic presentations with jarring inter-cue
transitions. CAPTAIN BLOOD is poky, dull, and just plain boring
(the initial cue is also mislabeled). THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER
cues include a few that come close to escaping the general
lethargy of this CD (but, alas, they never make it). Recording
engineering is first rate from capturing orchestral components
(via great miking/mixing) to the finished product (with the
exception of some "jump-cuts" between cues). Finally, a note on
cheapness. This CD comes not in jewel box, but "encased" in thin
cardboard. What's next? Saran wrap? PURCHASE-DECISION BOTTOM
LINE: After end-to-end listening to this thing 5-6 times, I
reluctantly recommend you strongly consider passing on it--but if
you feel compelled to do otherwise, buy it with greatly lowered
expectations. A cynic might add that the CD booklet is great, but
a tad expense; however, it does come with a CD as"

Great Music, but a Mediocre Performance

Dennis Koga | 11/05/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Korngold was indubitably one of the greatest film-score composers in the history of cinema if not the singularly greatest one. Both his innovations in the syntactical procedures involved in the production of film music and his highly individual expressiveness have seeped into the work of nearly all the composers in the genre in the generations since. What Korngold did for the art for which he is best remembered may be likened to what Monteverdi did for the opera or what Haydn did for the symphony. It was thus with great enthusiasm that I greeted the release of this album from the preeminent Andre Previn and the equally illustrious LSO.



While it is already granted that what is being played is both brilliantly constructed and enjoyable to listen to, I was disappointed in the playing itself, especially given the reputations of the players. In this recording, the LSO is uncharacteristically lethargic, and their sound is a bit on the bellowing, turgid side, lacking in an articulation adequate enough to highlight the many breathtaking orchestral details which are typical of Korngold's intricate style. I also find it disconcerting that this recording continues the trend of committing to disc only truncated suites of the scores. If we are ever to appreciate these great pieces of music, one must first play them in their entirety. Two-hour tone poems operatic in their scope cannot be done justice when they are turned into fleeting musical interludes."