Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Documentary

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AndrewMeronek
Posts: 1487
Joined: Mar 30, 2018

by AndrewMeronek »

Not trombone-centric, but I suspect that many members will enjoy this.

<YOUTUBE id="qnf8spITe48">[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnf8spITe48</YOUTUBE>
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hooterguy2
Posts: 77
Joined: Dec 12, 2018

by hooterguy2 »

Thanks for posting this. I'm a huge Korngold fan, whose incredible complexity required virtuosic playing, It gives one an idea of just how great the studio orchestras were and are, like the other greats that preceded him one always knows who the composer is. Korngold unfairly got a bad rap because of his film scores (which couldn't possibly be Serious Music (All Corn, and no Gold) but he influenced his contemporaries generations of composers that followed. Right, Mr. Williams?

His ability to match the score to the screen remains an incredible legacy. A great example of this is the recording The Sea Hawk with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn on Deutsche Gramophon. Without looking at the titles of the movement/scenes not only do you know which film it was composed for but also exactly which scene.

I've only had the pleasure to play a few pieces, like the Captain Blood Overture, and a series of scenes from Oscar-winning scores. By far the highlight for me was the Archery Contest scene in Robin Hood, were among other things he has the trumpets playing the same fanfare-like line in every key conceivable.

Thanks again. This is well worth checking out.

Colin
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bbocaner
Posts: 315
Joined: Mar 26, 2018

by bbocaner »

Thanks! Your suspicion is correct!
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AndrewMeronek
Posts: 1487
Joined: Mar 30, 2018

by AndrewMeronek »

That documentary seemed to be kind of "meh" about Korngold's stuff after retiring from film. I disagree.

<YOUTUBE id="jJkVSmMuX9s">[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJkVSmMuX9s</YOUTUBE>
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AndrewMeronek
Posts: 1487
Joined: Mar 30, 2018

by AndrewMeronek »

Ran across another nice documentary, from BBC. This upload is missing audio for about a minute of the beginning.

<YOUTUBE id="Dj85aDxoJjs">[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj85aDxoJjs</YOUTUBE>
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AndrewMeronek
Posts: 1487
Joined: Mar 30, 2018

by AndrewMeronek »

This orchestra seems to have made recordings of a bunch of famous suites of cutes from some of the Korngold films.

<YOUTUBE id="chrPnlsjfUY">[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chrPnlsjfUY</YOUTUBE>

I've never seen this movie, now I really want to. Gorgeous music.

I have to assume that the actual orchestra Korngold would have used to record the film cues would have been smaller.