Script for NYP 16-47: JvZ conducts Korngold, etc. AB: Hilary Hahn is the soloist in the Korngold Violin Concerto.

Transcription

1 Script for NYP 16-47: JvZ conducts Korngold, etc. (INSERT NATIONAL UNDERWRITING CREDIT #1) (THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER TO "X") AB: And this week...(x) AB: Hilary Hahn is the soloist in the Korngold Violin Concerto. This is Alec Baldwin. Thanks very much for joining us at David Geffen Hall, where we ll also hear the Symphony No. 7 by Beethoven. We begin right now with music by the Dutch composer and organist Johan Wagenaar, who lived from This is the concert overture, Cyrano de Bergerac. Jaap van Zweden conducts the New York Philharmonic. AB: Cyrano de Bergarac: Concert-overture by Johan Wagenaar. The New York Philharmoinc was led by Jaap van Zweden. (SLIGHT PAUSE) (ACTUALITY: HH 01)

2 AB: Violinist Hilary Hahn speaking about the next work on our program: Eric Wolfgang Korngold s Violin Concerto. Korngold is a fascinating musical figure. Before coming to Hollywood, the young Korngold was hailed as Mozart s heir-apparent in his native Vienna by such musical heavyweights as Mahler and Strauss. When Korngold arrived in America during the Second World War to compose the first of his 21 film scores, his father was devastated; Korngold senior thought work in Hollywood was beneath his son. Still, the ensuing years proved hugely successful for Korngold; two of his scores earned Oscars and two more were Oscarnominated. But Korngold clearly missed the high regard with which he was held as a young composer of 'serious' works. So, from the late 1940s and onward, he decided to focus again on music for the concert hall. The violin concerto we re about to hear was the first of these renewed efforts. Here again is Hilary Hahn: (ACTUALITY?) 45

3 AB: As a composer who--in general--disliked the more dissonant inclinations of his peers, Korngold's compositional style was still well rooted in Hollywood. The lush orchestration and effortless melodies of his violin concerto are, literally, straight out of the movies. Each movement quotes a different one of his filmscores, and the overall impression one gets from the work is one of pure late Romanticism. The magnificent soaring violin solo which opens the concerto is a theme from 1937 s Another Dawn: VO: The 2nd, more expansive theme, comes from 1939 s Juarez: VO: A solo clarinet introduces the principal theme of the middle movement, entitled, Romance. This passage quotes the score to Anthony Adverse from 1936: VO: The music that develops later is some of the most original of the concerto and shows Korngold s distinct voice:

4 VO: The third and final movement is the most difficult at least for the soloist. It begins with a staccato jig, which leads to a second theme based on the main motif from the film, The Prince and the Pauper from 1937: VO: It is here that we are perhaps best reminded that this work was premiered by the late great virtuoso Jascha Heifetz, who catapulted the work into the standard repertory. Once again, Hilary Hahn: (ACTUALITY?) AB: The piece ends in a blaze of virtuosic glory: (MUSIC UP AND OUT) AB: and with our artists ready to begin, we now hear the Korngold Violin Concerto. Hilary Hahn is the soloist and Jaap van Zweden conducts the New York Philharmonic.

5 AB: Violin Concerto by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Hilary Hahn was the soloist and the New York Philharmonic was conducted by Jaap van Zweden. (SLIGHT PAUSE) AB: Jaap van Zweden will return to the stage shortly and when he does, he ll lead the orchestra in a performance of the Symphony No. 7 by Beethoven. I m Alec Baldwin and you re listening to the New York Philharmonic This Week. (ID) AB: and we return to the stage, now, for the Symphony No. 7 by Beethoven. Jaap van Zweden conducts The New York Philharmonic. AB: Symphony No. 7 in A-major, Op. 92 by Beethoven. The New York Philharmoic was conducted by Jaap van Zweden. (INSERT CREDITS/CLOSERS)

6 PROMO for AB: On our next New York Philharmonic broadcast: We give a sneak-peak at two upcoming releases. First, we ll feature Music Director Alan Gilbert in a double-dose of Sibelius and that will be followed by Semyon Bychkov conducting the Symphony No. 6. I m Alec Baldwin. Please join me for the New York Philharmonic This Week.