"...An die Musik, an even more intimate space, was awfully empty Sunday evening, but the music-making filled the spot. You don't get to hear all-Korngold programs every day. This one, featuring baritone Ryan de Ryke, violinist Jill Jermyn and pianist Daniel Schlosberg, provided a hearty sampling from a composer initially hailed as a genius of nearly Mozartean proportions. Korngold didn't quite fulfill all of that potential, but he produced music of striking lyrical beauty, with a lush harmonic base that suggests a dynamic fusion of Mahler and Strauss, but with a very individualistic touch.

De Ryke sang a colorful assortment of Korngold's lieder with considerable elegance, relishing the soaring lines. And it was fun to hear a couple of evocative songs the composer wrote for some swashbuckling Hollywood movies he scored. Schlosberg was a model accompanist, bringing out the remarkable richness of the piano writing. He was equally attentive partnering Jermyn in the grand, deeply poetic Violin Sonata, which provides of foretaste of the composer's Hollywood period. The violinist's classy playing was notable for technical security and warm phrasing.

Incidentally, Schlosberg used to write freelance music reviews occasionally for The Sun when he was living in Baltimore, finishing up studies at Peabody. I thought he was a very talented, insightful writer and had hopes that he would eventually come over to the dark side and join us music critics fulltime. But he's clearly got too much to offer onstage."

-- Tim Smith

© Baltimore Sun, 2007




Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold died 50 years ago. The round-numbered anniversary has generated commemorative concerts across the country, including one Friday night at the Austrian Embassy, which paired Korngold with his compatriot Ernst Krenek.

Reuniting these two contemporary yet contrary composers was the brainchild of young pianist Daniel Schlosberg, a Korngold enthusiast who brought both passion and intellect to his performance of the nearly forgotten Piano Sonata No. 2.

The 30-minute sonata is a tremendous creation, considering Korngold was all of 13 when he wrote it in 1910. It's brimming with ideas, perhaps too many. For all its complex harmonies, heroic octaves, smoldering wisps of melody and restless rhythms, the composition ultimately feels forced -- like a 13-year-old trying to act 30. The rumbling Largo seems racked with pain, but one wonders how much pain such a wunderkind can really have known.

Songs by Korngold were also on display, sung by the warm-voiced baritone Ryan de Ryke. He found vivid drama in visually oriented songs such as the "Night Wanderer," with its eerie ride." [...]

While Korngold found fame composing melodic film scores in Hollywood, Krenek composed in myriad styles, embracing the thorny serialist method. But Schlosberg and de Ryke focused on Krenek's lyrical side with a set of well-built songs (Op. 56) from 1927, cast firmly in the German lieder tradition, with animated piano parts.

It was a smartly programmed evening, which presented the more experimental, Krenek side of Korngold and the sweeter, Korngold side of Krenek.

-- Tom Huizenga

© Washington Post, 2007