Thursday 14 May 2009

Erich Korngold rarity with MANIC video

Mahler connection. Erich Korngold's father was Julius Korngold, the formidable music critic who dominated Vienna in Mahler's time. Naturally when little Erich showed signs of being a prodigy everyone who was anyone in town knew about it, including Mahler, who called him a genius. Hardly surprising, for his piano sonatas (written when he was 11 and 14) are wonderful. Having such a powerful father was perhaps not entirely a blessing, but Erich seems to have been much too nice a guy to do a Mozart to his dad. Now Brendan Carroll, author of the famed "Erich Korngold : the Last Prodigy" (1997, 464pp) has created a tribute to Korngold, so we can all share. The sound comes from a very rare test recording made in the course of making a film. It's accompanied by photos from private collections, some of which haven't been seen before.

Lots of movies for which Korngold wrote music appear on Youtube, and also snips of his other music. But the clip below is worth singling out because it is a total scream! "It's NEW! It's DARING! It's from WARNER BROS!"

No comments: