Ramon van Engelenhoven: Korngold: A portrait for piano
TRPTK

A particularly strong case for the music of Erich Korngold (1897-1957) is made by the young Dutch pianist Ramon van Engelenhoven on this album-length portrait of the Austrian composer. While he created classical and operatic works, many know him more as a film composer, and certainly key aspects of his symphonic scores—their sweeping dramatic arcs and robust melodies, to cite two—have helped maintain that reputation. Consistent with that, the seventy-two-minute set includes three van Engelenhoven arrangements of Korngold's film score and opera material alongside the Piano sonata No. 2, Op. 2, written when the composer was just thirteen years old.

While a film score is generally held in lesser esteem than a formal classical work, the fact remains that it's the former that has helped the music of Herrmann, Rota, and, yes, Korngold endure. In all such cases, it's the film writing that has and will continue to lead listeners to newly discover the pieces they wrote for other contexts. Consistent with that, van Engelenhoven argues in liner notes that “the narrative surrounding Korngold has shifted from him primary being a ‘film composer,' with an implied stigma, to him simply being a composer who also wrote film music.” The recording the pianist fashioned dovetails with that position given that two pieces derive from the opera and concert stages and the other two from film scores.

From Korngold's 1927 opera Das Wunder der Heliane, Op. 20 comes the second-act aria “Ich ging zu ihm,” material van Engelenhoven rightfully deems intoxicating. Showing himself to be more than a bar-by-bar transcriber, the pianist also worked into his oft-tender treatment a few lines of music from the opening of the opera's first act. During this poised rendering, the connection between composer and performer is palpably felt, and van Engelenhoven's masterful technical command and interpretive sensitivity are drawn upon in equal measure. Composed in 1910, Korngold's second piano sonata is the work of a prodigiously gifted youth and startles for the authority and preternatural maturity of the writing. Lasting nearly a half-hour, it's also a work of substantial size and ambition. Confidence is conveyed immediately in the assertiveness with which the opening “Moderato” begins; memorable, too, are the sweeping cascades and textural effects in the material that follows. The subsequent scherzo is naturally declamatory and lively, but it also exemplifies a pronounced melodic character that would later be so central to Korngold's identity as a composer. Whereas the “Largo” is suitably brooding, the finale is spirited, rousing, and radiant with optimism. With the sonata, the young composer hews to tradition whilst also imposing his developing voice on the material.

The album's final pieces move us into film score territory, with the penultimate setting an entrancing transcription of the “Love Scene” from The Adventures of Robin Hood. Absorbing for its yearning and lyrical expressions, the hushed material exudes romance from every pore, and van Engelenhoven's execution is nothing short of exquisite. The recording's coup de grace arrives with the spectacular twenty-eight-minute suite van Engelenhoven crafted from the score for the film The Sea Hawk. The pianist's epic, tone poem-like treatment is a transcription he produced using the original orchestrations created for the film recording as a guide. While his version is presented as a single-movement piece, it was conceived by van Engelenhoven as a work in five parts. A triumphant opening sets the scene, after which the piece explores multiple directions, a reflective one here and a majestic one there. Memorable moments are many: whereas tender gestures lend “First Encounter on the Boat” haunting resonance and “To England and Panama” is in places Debussy-esque, “Battles and Duels” teems with animation and energy and the dignified “Reunion and Finale” resolves the work on a wave of wistful feeling. Unfamiliarity with the film isn't an issue as the action-packed adventure is engrossing in its purely musical form. Further to that, contrasts in mood and tone are so clearly delineated, a narrative of sorts coalesces of its own accord as this bravura performance unfolds.

July 2024