Korngold is pure candy for harmony junkies. The love theme from The Sea Hawk is in shifting key centers of B Maj, G Maj, & Eb Maj. When I realized this I got all excited by the idea of Trane sitting in the movies, watching Errol Flynn, transcribing harmony with a little notepad in the dark. This is nonsense of course. He didn't get if from the soundtrack either; that wasn't released until 1962.
Hey Jacob, why don't you write an overview of the complete Korngold for the rest of us on your new Substack???? Or at least an overview of the most famous scores. That would really be worth doing!
I would love to…although overview is probably more ambitious than I am capable of…maybe more like a greatest hits post. I know nothing about his operas which are the bulk of his work!
Listening to Op.11-III and wondering how the players managed to maintain synchronization of the constantly shifting tempo. Extraordinarily expressive, the way they played it. Such synch must be one of the great secrets of chamber players, via gesture and eye contact; harder when a pianist is involved, I should think, perhaps even with the memorization which is so often required of pianists. No doubt you have some practical experience imparted to your NEC students?
I believe that jazz musicians are largely spared from this rigor by the metronomic beat, although I think of Ornette's "Congeniality" with its stops and starts, and changing tempos; and recall reading about astonishment at the Five Spot how they would snatch up their instruments and start playing unisons, seemingly without cue. I seem to recall that scene from Spellman's "Four Lives in the Bebop Business."
As someone who played violin quite seriously for the better part of 15 years, I am ashamed that I never knew of Op.11-III. Simple, but gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.
Nice! The whole suite is lovely. Three of them are also arranged for piano solo, which are among the more successful Korngold piano pieces, at least as far as I am aware
Wow, that Korngold song is a revelation. (And seemingly sight-reading-proof, LOL...) Also, Buffy forever #oncemorewithfeeling
yes there is something about that Korngold which is VERY hard to sight-read. No doubt
Nice post, Ethan. Harmonies at the beginning of Drei Gesänge could be also Strayhorn & Dukeish.
Paralel half tone shift is Herbie.
Very interesting.
Korngold is pure candy for harmony junkies. The love theme from The Sea Hawk is in shifting key centers of B Maj, G Maj, & Eb Maj. When I realized this I got all excited by the idea of Trane sitting in the movies, watching Errol Flynn, transcribing harmony with a little notepad in the dark. This is nonsense of course. He didn't get if from the soundtrack either; that wasn't released until 1962.
There's a great podcast where John Mauceri talks about how Korngold's son oversaw re-recordings of his soundtracks for RCA red seal that came out in the early 70s and blew the minds of all the younger film composers, including John Williams. https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.podbean.com/e/legacy-conversations-6-john-mauceri/
right on
Hey Jacob, why don't you write an overview of the complete Korngold for the rest of us on your new Substack???? Or at least an overview of the most famous scores. That would really be worth doing!
I would love to…although overview is probably more ambitious than I am capable of…maybe more like a greatest hits post. I know nothing about his operas which are the bulk of his work!
Listening to Op.11-III and wondering how the players managed to maintain synchronization of the constantly shifting tempo. Extraordinarily expressive, the way they played it. Such synch must be one of the great secrets of chamber players, via gesture and eye contact; harder when a pianist is involved, I should think, perhaps even with the memorization which is so often required of pianists. No doubt you have some practical experience imparted to your NEC students?
I believe that jazz musicians are largely spared from this rigor by the metronomic beat, although I think of Ornette's "Congeniality" with its stops and starts, and changing tempos; and recall reading about astonishment at the Five Spot how they would snatch up their instruments and start playing unisons, seemingly without cue. I seem to recall that scene from Spellman's "Four Lives in the Bebop Business."
As someone who played violin quite seriously for the better part of 15 years, I am ashamed that I never knew of Op.11-III. Simple, but gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.
Nice! The whole suite is lovely. Three of them are also arranged for piano solo, which are among the more successful Korngold piano pieces, at least as far as I am aware
Buffy? Three words: The Rockford Files.