Best Discs of 2009

"Not everyone warms to the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, but this excellent selection of songs from his Viennese days, with a couple of examples also dating from his Hollywood heyday, might convert even the sternest naysayer. Iain Burnside accompanies Sarah Connolly and William Dazeley in the many moods of this complicated Wunderkind."

Korngold’s Sonnett für Wien is, as Jessica Duchen’s outstanding sleeve notes tell us, a ‘eulogy to the lost world of pre-First World War Vienna’. William Dazeley steps up manfully to this defiant tribute, written after decades in Hollywood. For a searing, bittersweet taste of old Vienna, you have to wait for the second track, a setting of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Sterbelied’, poignantly handled by Sarah Connolly and Iain Burnside. This 30-song rollercoaster includes the expressionistic Op 18 songs, the exquisite Unvergänglichkeit set, and some Shakespeare settings from the Hollywood years. No one ever writes great Shakespeare songs, but ‘For the rain, it raineth every day’ is terrific fun ,and some virtuosic dynamic control from Connolly in the sparse earthy setting of Desdemona’s song is a highlight of a disc where the English settings suffer by comparison with the German ones. But for the excellent efforts of the performers, the disparity would be greater. Signum’s other recent song release, a showcase for English countertenor Tim Travers-Brown is a valuable resource for enthusiasts of the genre. The world premier recordings of Michael Howard’s The Painted Rose, and Three English Songs, are set along side Betty Roe’s Noble Numbers and some well-judged appropriations from Warlock and Howells."

“Both singers respond magnificently to Korngold’s testing vocal lines”
Matthew Rye