Romance of Korngold - Classic Romantic Music for Relaxation, Study & Dinner Ambience | Perfect for Weddings, Spa & Romantic Evenings

This compilation is an excellent introduction to one of the most melodic of all the late Romantic composers. It is also an astounding bargain at under £2 secondhand as I write. The selection fills a very generous two and a half hours of beautiful music, is easy on the ear and contains melodies that stick in your mind.Korngold's gift for melody attracted the attention of the Hollywood movie makers from it's Golden Age. This proved to be a blessing in disguise as it saved his life (being a Jew living in Vienna when the Nazis came to power). This association with film soundtracks also proved a major drawback as this prodigy was basically ignored for his "non-film" output after World War 11. His biography is well worth checking out - as is his music !The programme is well chosen and covers the various forms through which Korngold expressed his musical visions. We therefore have pieces from 4 of his film scores (he won 2 Academy Awards for soundtrack) , the best known arias from his 2 greatest operas, his entire Violin Concerto - Star Trek fans will find out where it's theme music originated ! - the adagio from his late Symphony and a piece from his large scale symphonic Serenade.There is music for stage and pantomime, chamber music and some lieder (sung beautifully by Anne Sofie Von Otter.The recordings are all from the 1990's so no analog hiss on this compilation. DG had access to recordings on other labels (Phillips, Decca and ASV) so the sources for the content were almost unlimited. Only Chandos and Naxos have issued sets of this music apart from the pioneering work of the CPO label for Orchestral works and Vareses Sarabande for some soundtracks. Conductors featured here include Previn, Mauceri and Richter and their respective top notch orchestras - LSO, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. Soloists include Gil Shaham for the Violin Concerto, Renee Fleming, the Flesch Quartet and the very moving Passover Psalm is played by the Viennese Philharmonic with the Slovak Philharmonic Choir and the featured soloist is Eva Urbanova.All of this indicates that this is a top drawer recording and not something thrown together. The music easily lives up to the all-star billing of artists assembled here. Korngold fans will have many of these recordings and no doubt their own suggestions as to what should have been included or left out. The only comparable set as an alternative is Previn's DG double CD B01DQ9B8LG on the Eloquence label Which features the same version of the Violin Concerto in full but has the added advantage of the complete Symphony and a more comprehensive overview of Korngold's film music on disc 2 along with more helpings from the delightful "Much Ado About Nothing" suite. The best recording of his soundtracks remains the stunning recordings from the 1970's by Gerhardt with the National Philharmonic Orchestra collected as "The Sea Hawk" on RCA Victor GD 87890 which crackles with excitement. I confess to being biased and have found Korngold's music - especially his orchestral outporings to be highly addictive but I've not found any other composer sing to me in the way he does !