Alexander Frey is regarded as “the world’s leading interpreter of Korngold’s keyboard music” (Piano Magazine), and has recorded the composer’s complete piano works for Koch International Classics.
In this short excerpt from his award-winning ARTE film , “Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Adventures of a Wunderkind-a Portrait and Concert” (available on DVD), Mr. Frey performs piano music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957).
Alexander Frey also performs the first public hearing of Korngold’s second symphony in the DVD, which exists only in a manuscript piano score. Most of the background piano music in this film is also taken from Frey’s performances of the composer’s music.
The video begins with a short spoken introduction by Samuel West.
Mr. Frey then plays the following 3 remarkable works that Korngold composed between the ages of 10 and 13, far advanced for a composer who was so young:
1. Don Quixote (1907): Don Quixote and his longing for historic deeds.
2. Sieben Märchenbuilder, opus 3, no. 4 (1910): Gnomes.
3. Sieben Märchenbuilder, opus 3, no. 7: Epilogue.