“Serious” Works from a Hollywood Composer
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, 1916. AKG-Images
The Bard Music Festival turns its focus on Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the preeminent film composer of the 1930s and ’40s whose art music long went overlooked. August 9–11 and 16–18 at the Fisher Center.
By Barrymore Laurence Scherer
Now that film music enjoys an unequivocal presence on contemporary orchestral programs, it’s no surprise that the Bard Music Festival, that bastion of imaginative programming, is marking its 30th anniversary season by turning to a figure somewhat unfamiliar as a “serious” composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957). Korngold was arguably the pre-eminent film composer during Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” Yet, by the time he died, his work there during the 1930s and ’40s had effectively obliterated the exceptional stature he had achieved in Europe’s concert halls and opera houses.
Post Date: 08-04-2019
By Barrymore Laurence Scherer
Now that film music enjoys an unequivocal presence on contemporary orchestral programs, it’s no surprise that the Bard Music Festival, that bastion of imaginative programming, is marking its 30th anniversary season by turning to a figure somewhat unfamiliar as a “serious” composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957). Korngold was arguably the pre-eminent film composer during Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” Yet, by the time he died, his work there during the 1930s and ’40s had effectively obliterated the exceptional stature he had achieved in Europe’s concert halls and opera houses.
Post Date: 08-04-2019