Symphony in F‑Sharp Major

Korngold’s Symphony in F-Sharp, Op. 40 dates from 1952, 14 years after the Nazis annexed Austria and he emigrated from Vienna to America with his family. In the U.S., Korngold wrote film scores for Hollywood, and it’s tempting to hear in the Symphony’s bustling rhythms and sparkling orchestrations the influence of his groundbreaking work in the movie industry. In truth, Korngold’s richly expressive idiom was fully formed before he left Europe—he helped make the Hollywood sound, rather than it making him. The Symphony is launched by a string of jagged, restless figurations whose influence permeates the darkly ruminating opening movement. The “Scherzo” also bristles with incessant nervous energy, hardly mitigated by the sinuous string writing of its spectral “Trio” section. The expansive slow movement is the heart of the Symphony, its aching melodies at times recalling Mahler, who decades earlier had dubbed the nine-year-old Korngold a genius. The emotional shadows finally lift in the hyperactively upbeat finale, ending in a burst of major-key brilliance. Largely ignored at its Vienna premiere in 1954, Korngold’s Symphony was rediscovered by the conductor Rudolf Kempe in 1972. Since then, its critical stock has risen exponentially, not least through excellent recordings made by André Previn, John Wilson, and others.