Moving forward.

October 29, 2005 at 4:11 AM

Today I began work on the Korngold Concerto, a piece I've shamelessly and sappily been in love with for several years since first hearing the Perlman recording. I listened a couple times to both it and the Walton and was actually more intrigued by the rich sonorities and colors of the Walton which in a way fit my temperament better, especially in the gorgeous first movement, but at the moment I think taking on those last two virtuosic movements would be a technical stretch. I would like to refine my technical issues more in standard rep like Prokofiev 1 (I look forward to either that or Shostakovich towards the end of the school year) before tackling something like Walton or Elgar.

Korngold, however, promises to be a lot of fun, particularly after having played such relentlessly serious concertos lately. This is also, incredibly enough, the first piece in which I am entirely inventing my own fingerings and bowings. It takes time, but I'm happy to be learning and to be allowed this much creative freedom in really personalizing the work. I got through essentially the first movement and tomorrow should be able to start metronome work on the fast sections (mostly sextuplets), do intonation work on the major sevenths, and explore colors and shadings in the lyrical sections. In fact, after I figure out the flashier stuff, I think my fascination will be mainly in working through spots like the very opening and experimenting with how to create a really magical sound. Korngold may not be as profound as Brahms, but it is lush and incredibly sweet all the same, and who cares whether music is high-brow or made for the movies as long as it achieves its purpose of melting your heart?

Moving forward.

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