Erich Wolfgang Korngold : Kings Row, Symphonic Suite from the film music (1942) - part one

[@jamesmarshall8836]

Korngold was a genius, one of the all-time greats.

[@BlueLineEnforcement]

Yes.

[@michaelefelsen366]

Completely correct! Unfortunately he never became so well known than others not having been a genius! He would have deserved it!!

[@seba4053]

When he was a child Korngold usually played with Gustav Mahler's daughters during summer. Mahler said Erich was a musical genius.

[@kentrosaurusboi3909]

He was also born in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia (now Czechia) and that region had a lot of German presence up until 1945 when they were rather brutally expelled. So this would make sense, and seems perfectly normal to me, as Mahler himself was a Sudeten German as well.

[@cooks37]

Korngold was born in Brno. Mahler was born in Kaliště. Neither of those towns are in the "Sudetenland". It's absolutely sickening that you claim these two Jewish composers were Germans. Had they lived in Europe during the WWII they would both be murdered. I'm so disgusted by Nazis, who want to claim Jewish composers from Czech lands as theirs, when they murdered their whole families, who weren't lucky enough to leave.

[@jesustovar2549]

When Max Steiner (King Kong, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, A Summer Night) was a child, he also studied under Gustav Mahler.

[@kentrosaurusboi3909]

@@cooks37 This comment is so hilariously wrong that I'd love to just ask this writer to please delete this comment and go look at a map. Brno, or *Brünn* as he would've called it himself was literally an island part of the Sudetenland with 63% of the population (as of 1918) being German. There were 55,000 German inhabitants at the end of the World War, this including, guess what, *ALL* of the 12,000 Jewish inhabitants, who were part of the city elite. Even the Czech government tried to dilute the presence of the German majority by including the surrounding Czech villages as part of "Greater Brno". In the case of Gustav Mahler, he was literally born into a German-speaking family, and early in his life moved to Jihlava, much better known as *Iglau* , again in the Sudetenland. So please, please stop misinforming people and accusing me of being a Nazi because you're too ignorant to do basic research.

[@morkvomork5557]

@@cooks37 both composers were Austrians, no Czechs and no Germans, regardless of their religious affiliation.

[@maxmerry8470]

Could well be Korngold's finest film score....in fact, arguably, the best by any composer for movies! The opening is definitive, almost peerless. The orchestration is, simply, magnificent and can be revelled-in for its own sake without seeing the actual movie.....Superb performance by Gerhardt and the NPO.....

[@xansdad55]

I listened to this CD for many years and always wished some rich patron of the arts would come along and commission an original ballet using this score....

[@xansdad55]

By the way, I agree that this is Korngold's crowning achievement in film composition. It is my personal favorite in film scores. My list of favorite composers include Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Georges Delarue, Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Miklos Rozsa, Alfred Newman, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Richard Rodney Bennett, Hans Zimmer,and Danny Elfman. Do you have a favorites list?

[@stillstanding6031]

Hi, Max. With Korngold, I find it difficult to land on his definitive film score, but for it's for its richness and melodic hue, King's Row is arguably, his best---better than the film for sure. I would put it in the category of "Korngold's sleeper". BTW: As far as the composer greats go, I would put John Barry among the all-time greats and certainly the finest of the latter 20th century.

[@maxmerry8470]

No argument there but I probably prefer Barry's work from the 60s/70s to his later stuff.

[@rtype4930]

@@xansdad55 Don't forget Basil Poledouris is great film music composer too ...Also you forgot to mention James Horner !

[@bryangl1]

A note of interest. The great main theme proved inappropriate for the movie (although it was used). This is because Korngold wrote the title theme before seeing the script, so knew nothing about the movie but its name. The name suggested something very heroic, rather than the story of a small town that the movie was actually about. The movie was inconsequential so forgotten, fortunately the superb score has survived. The series of recordings by Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic (an orchestra formed specifically for these recordings from members of London's finest symphony orchestras) was outstanding in every way (superb engineering and playing) and was the landmark or most notable series of recordings of the 70's. It spurred the recording of all of Korngold's operas under Gerhardt.

[@WCaron23001]

I have to disagree politely about the "inconsequential" part.

[@peterc.7841]

@@WCaron23001 Hear, hear. My family enjoyed the movie, and it has stuck in my head. As for the music, it was this KZbin video that introduced me to both the music and the movie. I transcribed the trumpet fanfare and my daughters and I play it.

[@sorartificial]

Nice

[@peterc.7841]

Actually though, "inconsequential" may not be entirely unfair. It may not have made a big splash, despite some of us thinking highly of it.

[@spacepatrolman]

John Barry said I cant write music to a script I have to see film footage Richard Rodney Bennet said the same thing the film is not forgotten to Bob Cummings fans and Jack Kelly fans who played the MD in the TV version with a reorchestrated Korngold theme by Max Steiner If Korngold thought it was about royalty and not an up an coming doctor why are there childrens themes ?

[@steveweinstein3222]

With this score, Korngold solidified the movie soundtrack as the worthy heir of the 19th Century German symphonic tradition.

[@MrMark2024]

A great movie with a beautiful soundtrack that has surpassed the test of time. Close your eyes and listen to the master at work. Thank you for sharing this wonderful soundtrack. It is indeed a classic, that will live on forever.

[@KTR2022]

King's Row is a great movie and its greatness owes much to this soundtrack.

[@danielku6124]

It’s one of great movie in 40’s from the Novel written by Henry Bellamaan in 1940 .

[@gabrielalan398]

So romantic and beautiful. Thanks Korngold for this amazing piece. 🇧🇷

[@lamfam0801]

Hearing the triumphant theme at the end when Drake regains his old self makes me cry every time. Such an uplifting and lovely movie.

[@Liebes2732]

President Reagen did really well as Drake's actor, and the whole story was just as amazing as the music

[@kirsteni.russell5903]

Whoever made the one and only thumbs-down on this score has a lost cause. This is a delightful score that beckons us to watch the movie--or buy the OST!

[@songsmith31a]

One of the great film themes, as might expected from this composer.

[@leoinsf]

The music of "Kings Row" is 200 times better than the movie! This is one of the greatest movie scores ever written. Erich Wolfgang Korngold should have written more classical music. As it turned out, he was distracted by writing for the movies and stopped writing operas, symphonies and, of course, died young. A tragedy!

[@joeenglert]

the movie is pretty darn good and had a great cast

[@plsspayorneuter]

@@joeenglert Yeah, it's a swell movie. Small town melodrama film with great... everything.

[@jesustovar2549]

@@plsspayorneuter I mean, Ronald Reagan starred in it, I've read he even used the Kings Row fanfare for one of his presentations as a president.

[@AfonsoComposer]

He stopped writing classical music because Europe was devastated by the war. Films were his source of income in the USA

[@eddienieuwenhuizen3051]

Korngold was saved by Hollywood. If he had stayed in Europe....

[@kohl57]

Sublime and wonderful! Torn between this and his score for "Robin Hood" as Korngold's greatest film music but both are ample reasons to appreciate what we gained when Korngold was in mid Atlantic aboard ss NORMANDIE when the Nazis invaded his Austria and knew he could never return.

[@davidhardy879]

AMEN !

[@jesusfernandezgarcia9449]

He came back.

[@songsmith31a]

Charles Gerhardt and the NPO made some superb RCA LPs (later to CD) of classic film scores and their Korngold album featured this classic title theme.

[@STho205]

The late 70s blockbusters were to recapture the great movie experiences of the late 30s through the 50s. The music was expected to be familiar in feel to those big and small technicolor epics.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

The whole world was big at the time! Just look at Kodachromes of Hollywood from the early 1950s (1950-1954) and 1940s/1930s.

[@dmntuba]

If you can't listen to Korngold and walk away musical fulfilled there is something wrong with you.

[@hh5200]

Speaking to the art of orchestration and melody writing, Mark Twain once said, ‘history doesn’t repeat itself but often times it rhymes’. 😊

[@jaapvandertuuk3785]

Listen to Korngolds magnificent Violinconcerto.

[@johndonath7342]

Listened to his violinconcerto twice today ... absolutely beautiful

[@jaapvandertuuk3785]

@@johndonath7342 thank you,mr.Donath.

[@sammywestenberger9303]

Mr. Donath: You’re Welcome

[@obironsnowjobi]

Thanks so much for posting. I have wanted to hear this since 1979. Should have bought the CD way back. I have every other LP and CD of the Gerhardt re-recordings and he is unmatched at getting scores of Steiner, Tiomkin, Waxman, Newman, Raksin, Rosza, and Korngold to shine. And of course Williams. Gerhardt's light classics are hit and miss, but pouring over the note inserts for all the LP's was so engrossing when I was 10-15 years old. Rudy Behlmer again gets high marks, and George Korngold too, both for the entire series. GWTW is my favorite score, and Kings Row is in my top 50, but this recording really makes the case to reexamine as the sound is fantastic. My personal faves are Liz and Ess, Sea Hawk, Constant Nymph, Between 2 Worlds, Escape Me Never, Prince and the poor dude, Anthony Adversity, and Juarez (use the Bette theme more!!). Love all the serious works too. Especially the symphony with the slow movement that uses Elizabeth and Essex theme in brilliant working out. Bottom line is Korngold is like having Richard Strauss write movie scores. Tunes plus great orchestration/conducting with no mickey mouse. Max (king of the mouse) will always be my favorite, but Korngold in far fewer scores made a mark that only he, Max and Alfred are in the same league for. As always, please check out everything Raksin and North wrote, we get an American sound that can be avant garde too. Elmer always for shear delight, and Jerry to take us to the electronic era. One other quick point, Star Wars (Luke theme) does have a slight nod to the opening, but listen to Copland in El Salon Mexico and you hear the Luke theme much more clearly. Like most heroic music, it's a fanfare built on common intervals, it's the voicings that make the common into amazing. Thanks again, brilliant album, only other except GWTW with just a single score from Gerhardt. (Yes I know about the Star Wars series, but although certainly the greatest series score, not a Classic era score) And Gerhardt has the BEST Imperial March using the intro.

[@xansdad55]

Aren't you lucky! I fell in love with this as a little boy back in the 60's. Gephardt's brilliant arrangements and re-creations are unmatched.

[@stillstanding6031]

Nice information. I agree, Max Steiner is the greatest, both for sheer quantity and inventiveness. But, NOBODY could score an orchestra like Korngold; sheer magic. BTW: I'd like to add Jerry Goldsmith to this list for his "Dr. Kildare" theme, as broadcast on TV; a monumental achievement in composition and scoring; less than two-minutes long and brilliant!

[@baltoman24]

There is one man missing- Bernard Herrmann - another outstanding composer- I agree that Alfred Newman was one of the best-love his music for All about Eve- there is not much, since the dialog is so significant, but his musical personification of Eve's ambition is perfection! SO glad that these great scores are being reissued and enjoyed once more. John Williams deserves credit for bringing film scoring back to the foreground, after so many earlier films were scored with pop songs of the period.

[@sammywestenberger9303]

R.I.P. Jerry Goldsmith Composer 🎼

[@bentojunior9967]

Trilha sonora maravilhosa! (Wonderful soundtrack!)

[@arsenblackwell]

This is beautiful!

[@xandersandravanderlaan2849]

I’d like to respond to the ongoing remarks related to the similarities to the Star Wars Theme. First; Korngold wrote his theme with a totally different picture in mind. When John Williams wrote Star Wars, he at least knew what sort of film it was. And here it comes: of course Williams drew inspiration from Korngold, but he totally made the melody his own and in a way perfected it. Yes, the Star Wars theme is the better, more satisfying melody. The first 6 notes might be the same, but Williams creates arguably the finest hero theme ever written and it’s a theme that will last forever.

[@raulperez2308]

@@RoddersClassical people just don't understand how many of the greats took themes from the popular music of their time. williams is a fantastic composer, so is korngold, even more holtz and prokofiev. the fact that one inspires others isn't a problem...quite the contrary. we wouldn't have some of the most iconic film music ever made if it wasn't for williams.

[@mikesmovingimages]

George Lucas and his music editor used this Korngold theme in the Star Wars temp track, together with the Holst, Stravinsky and Wagner that Williams supposedly ripped off. Williams was simply working from Lucas' inspiration and instructions. Interesting to me is the use by Williams of the B part of the King's Row theme for the B part of his Superman theme. And does no one think that Korngold didn't know what he doing by using a quote from Finlandia in this score? And who cares? Williams also ripped off himself: Some of the Star Wars cues were practically lifted note for note from his prior score for Black Sunday. But few have seen that movie today, let alone listened to the soundtrack, so it doesn't really matter.

[@papertoymonsters2748]

that's not objective i actually prefer the Korngold version

[@finneasmoore]

@@mikesmovingimagesI don’t think that’s true- he used Miklos Rozsa in the temp for the opening scene, and although Korngold was in some of Lucas’ inspirations for the score, I don’t know if this specific piece was

[@jamesholt3758]

Listening to the score and having seen numerous time, one can picture a scene by the score.

[@MyTroubadour]

Encore une excellente découverte !!

[@MrRbjunior83]

You must hear the Symphony in F# dur. It is absolutely unattainable level for the humanity

[@Dr.RolyndDellaSylvan]

@MrRbjunior83 If all goes well, I will begin another PhD: this one with my research focusing on Korngold’s Symphony! My proposed doctoral dissertation = “Erich Korngold- Symphony in F sharp major, op.40; musicological, stylistic, and interpretive incursion, from a conductor's perspective.” I wish you many more rapturous musical moments. -Dr D

[@joeenglert]

korngold..hermann...jarre,,,tiompkin....steiner....all great with thier own unique styles

[@TheVaughan5]

Don’t forget Rozsa, IMO superior to Tiompkin or Jarre. Hermann certainly the most original of all.

[@jslasher1]

Work on your spelling, please. It's Herrmann [2 r's], Tiomkin [no 'p'].

[@andreapandypetrapan]

@@jslasher1 What a pedant you are! Chill out, you understood what he meant perfectly. I agree that exactitude is appropriate when needed, like calculating the orbit of the moons of Saturn. Next you'll be correcting Shakespeare's spelling in the First Folio, Love, andrea

[@rudolphkopp9902]

We recall 'Rudy' remarking at a meeting of the Composers and Lyricists Guild in the late 1940s [he was employed at M-G-M at the time] that he considered this to be EWK's finest score. Daniele Amfitheatrof and Hugo Friedhofer were in complete agreement.

[@songsmith31a]

Your comment brought to mind a report of the conversation between Max Steiner (I think) and Korngold during which Steiner was said to have remarked how their music was beginning to sound similiar. To which Korngold was said to have responded in words to the effect: "In that case, yours is getting better and mine is getting worse."

[@rudolphkopp9902]

@@songsmith31a This exchange is more or less accurate as previously reported by the late Tony Thomas.

[@songsmith31a]

@@rudolphkopp9902 I recall a mention of it in an autobiography by the late Andre Previn..

[@FLPUniverse]

WOOOW Such a masterpiece

[@michaelhanrahanmoore1622]

I listened to the magic fire soundtrack which was a glorious production of Wagner and this led me to the video I'm commenting on. I'd heard of Korngold but I regret I'd never heard his music. It is so beautiful and I think John Williams owes more to him than Wagner and holst in my opinion. Korngold was a wonderful composer.

[@bernabeangeler2918]

17:42 this is so similar to Ravel daphnis et chloë

[@nathanturczan]

Agreed! Something to do with using this color palette (and incredible orchestration) to convey rapidly shifting moods, from playful and mischievous to thoughtful and pensive to longing/nostalgia. Never ever letting up on lush-ness and textural beauty

[@g.lucchio5660]

4:06

[@bernabeangeler2918]

😪

[@mariocisneros911]

# 1 Kings Row , #2 adventures of Robin Hood . But I like the Captain Blood music too . The intro and ship in the night .

[@peterc.7841]

Don't forget The Seahawk. It's the studliest trumpet playing there is.

[@coastynhall]

I’m taking notes right now…

[@truffleshuffl]

So many peopel are asking for a copy, if you look on the googly you will find a youtube to mp4 converter, they work well.

[@juliobarrenecheavasquez7694]

11:26 🤤🤤🤤✨

[@nikoladekovski4611]

I was able to find segments of this score like the main title in the beginning on Spotify. I am unable to find an album containing the entire thing by this orchestra. Has anybody been successful?

[@spacepatrolman]

yOU ASKED FOR IT kzbin.info?search_query=KINGS+ROW+KORNGOLD+

[@nikoladekovski4611]

I did mention I was struggling with finding it in Spotify

[@xenasloan6859]

I would think the self-effacing Richard Strauss is the natural progenitor of this type of luscious and descriptive scoring.

[@stynway59]

And I wouldn't discount Ravel in Daphnes et Chloe (with chorus!)

[@diskopix]

La orquestación es impecable, muy buena, una pasada. La música en sí no me dice gran cosa.

[@nebulawh]

The music is literally flawless

[@stillstanding6031]

Another jewel in the Korngold crown. Nobody, save Max Steiner, wrote better film scores.

[@maxmerry8470]

Possibly for inventiveness and daring to take chances, Bernard Herrmann could be considered a more "interesting" composer? However, let me stress, I am a HUGE fan of Korngold, Steiner (and Waxman too).

[@stillstanding6031]

@@maxmerry8470 Agreed. Who can forget "Psycho"? Hermann is a giant of innovation. But I think Hermann belongs to another class of composers: Modern. I view Korngold and Steiner as post-Romantic.

[@maxmerry8470]

Yes, I suppose Herrmann heralds in a "new" age of film-scorers, although he almost belongs to both eras. Citizen Kane, Magnificent Ambersons, Jayne Eyre, Devil and Daniel Webster and the oh so gorgeously romantic Ghost and Mrs Muir as earlier Herrmann masterpieces. Vertigo, Psycho, Trouble With Harry etc pointing to the next generation and beyond.

[@spacepatrolman]

Max rerecorded it for the TV version that maybe the first time on LP when Korngold did it only 78s existed

[@robertlichtenberger206]

As with others here, I'm an admirer of Max Steiner, his versatility & prodigious output, yet I don't feel that in his long career he was ever able to 'better' Erich Korngold's unique/novel approach to motion picture music as "opera without singing." From my perspective, both composers, in different ways, very significantly contributed to the art of music for the movies.

[@nicolasmaillouxorgue]

My favorite part is 16:20

[@bernabeangeler2918]

Beautiful

[@flashgamer1275]

It’s back! Was there some copyright issue???

[@stefansimon-autor4602]

The German late Romantic style survived in American movie soundtracks. While in Germany composers started making music no one wants to listen to up to this day.

[@cvb6957]

A very intelligent comment and absolutely true in every word. Kind regards from Germany. Christoph

[@jesustovar2549]

Well that music "no one wants to listen to up this day" works well as horror film music.

[@genekelly8467]

Likwe Arnold Shoenburg...that stuff is horrible

[@fma6399]

Obviously german culture was destroyed during the third Reich and after WWII...

[@larrybuchanan7161]

I love the Movie & I purchased the book but have not read it yet. I was so disappointed that Claude Rains, one of the Doctors, was doing his baby girl W T F was wrong with that A Hole and then Murdered her to. Even tho I believe it was for the love of Parris Mitchell so he would Not have to go through what he did IE stuck with a crazy wife. Still this was a great Movie.

[@lupash]

I hear a little bit of Wagner in this

[@promasoundlabuonamusica1914]

❤️❤️❤️🎼🎼🎼

[@flaggerify]

Where’s the rest of me?!

[@stillstanding6031]

Good question, president.

[@johnnylee3565]

How interesting

[@johnpugh3348]

Must be as good as anything he ever wrote outside of his operas

[@솔나무-g9x]

월말 김어준 조윤범,김가람샘 듣고 왔어요.

[@ALOISC1]

Wow, they had Digital Recording in 1942.

[@kbcknll505]

Nope - this recording was done in 1979, produced by Korngold's son George (d. 1987).

[@fredericchopin6445]

Keaton Bicknell i think that was a joke

[@brunoantony3218]

Jokes aside, analog sound is superior to digital on many levels. Warmer, more human, not synthetic and artificial like digital, which is UNLISTENABLE in comparison.

[@gespenst1329]

@@brunoantony3218Wondering why analog recordings don’t seem to be done in this age (occasionally) when it should probably be easier to do so now.

[@maxmerry8470]

I wonder how many of the John Williams bashers have actually listened properly to the two King's Row uploads? It strikes me that their received, second-hand remarks about Williams supposedly ripping off Korngold for the Star Wars music have little to do with what Korngold actually wrote. Give it a rest, for Christ's Sake.......

[@bryangl1]

Hi Max.I don't know that Williams knowingly captured Korngold's style or not. I do know that (already being a Korngold fanatic) and working with a radio station I got an advance copy of the Star Wars soundtrack before the movie was released. I still remember hearing that main theme and shouting, "It's Korngold (not literally so of course) at last real music has returned to movies" So the stylistic similarity of the theme was immediately apparent.

[@maxmerry8470]

Hi, Bryan. I came to Korngold via the Charles Gerhardt recordings of the early 1970s (well before "Star Wars" was released). I'd heard the music beforehand in some of the movies shown on TV when I was a kid but Korngold's name would have meant little to me back then. My grump above was about the constant "Star Wars" comparison in the comments on this page and on other channels. Yes, Williams was influenced by EWK (and other Golden Agers) but that was a deliberate action on his part. He was giving the director what he required in, effectively, a swashbuckler. What I feel most prickly about is the dearth of actual considerations of the "Kings Row" music itself, irrespective of influences on Williams. If you look at the second upload from the score on this channel, there are precious few comments......

[@bryangl1]

@@maxmerry8470 Hi Max. I totally understand your grievance. The rise of Hitler etc meant that the world lost an unknown quantity of music from Korngold for concert hall and opera stage (we have his youthful Sinfonietta, Symphony, Violin Concerto, brief Cello Concerto and 4 operas plus a few more trivial works and he will be remembered for these). But the concert hall's loss was the film-music world's gain where he was among the best (I'm tempted to say "he was the best" but that may be bias) and the score to King's Row, along with quite a few others, will be remembered (and not just for its striking opening theme). As good as much of William's music is, he was writing very much to formulas, and on that basis, he could well fade into obscurity whereas Korngold's "survival" is secured on a much sounder footing. [P.S. To be accurate, Star Wars was released in 1976 (from memory) so not very long after Gerhardt's landmark recordings]

[@JHobartMusic72]

I love how uneducated people say “John Williams just stole Korngold”… Oh yeah? That easy huh? Go ahead and try “stealing” something from one of the greats and see how far YOU get with it. Williams is a master composer and orchestrator who obviously studied the greats before him.

[@gespenst1329]

That’s definitely the thing, there’s no point focusing on what was “stolen” when it will take far more than those few notes or instrumental passages to establish a name as standing on its own.

[@promasoundlabuonamusica1914]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@maru9447]

😳

[@genekelly8467]

A wonderful score..but as was said, a mediocre film that is mostly forgotten.....does a print exist?

[@jslasher1]

My favourite recording of "King's Row" is the Warner Bros. Records LP featuring Lionel Newman conducting an un-credited Graunke Symphony Orchestra [Munich]. George Korngold, the composer's son, produced that album.

[@bradfordrusso7480]

This may well be The Greatest movie opening theme and scene of all time. The film is the last of the great melodramas. And possibly the greatest of them all. Do you realize what the music and lyrics represent? The words come from the poem Invictus which Parris quotes to Drake (Reagan). "I AM the Master of my fate, the Captain of my soul." It is speaking of the Triumph of the Human Spirit. More specifically, it is a scathing denunciation of Church-ianity. Which tries to usurp, and "make merchandise of men's souls". A reference to a scripture text which identifies Jesus as "the captain of your soul". Which has been twisted and perverted into your preacher and his God-damn man-made denomination trying to seize that role. Demanding your unquestioning obedience and obeisance to their dogma. A Mennonite preacher told me his job was to protect "the body of the Mennonite church" from outside influence, like me. I told him: "According to Scripture, there is NO Such Thing as The Body of the Mennonite church. Only the Body and Bride of Christ. Which is the sum of all true believers, worldwide. Regardless of denomination. Your church is The Bride of Frankenstein!"

[@debjahdo1889]

D'accord !