Fun Weill it lasts

The gap between art and entertainment opens up in the 20th century, but not every composer wants to play by the new rules: Kurt Weill, Erwin Dressel, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and George Gershwin will not be pigeonholed on either side of the Atlantic and show that refined music need not be boring. Kurt Weill’s diverse orchestral works were rediscovered some years ago, and Erwin Dressel wrote one of the few solo concertos for the saxophone. After being driven out of Austria, Korngold almost exclusively composed film music and his score for the major Hollywood production Robin Hood won an Oscar. Gershwin humorously put Americans’ longing for the Old World to music.

PROGRAMME:
Kurt Weill: Symphony No. 2
Erwin Dressel: Concerto for saxophone and orchestra, Op. 27
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Suite from "Robin Hood"
George Gershwin: An American in Paris

Photo © Todd Rosenberg