By Greg Cahill | From the January/February 2026 issue of Strings
“Throughout our careers, we have all been great admirers of Korngold, having engaged with his music as players, listeners, and teachers,” says violinist Austin Hartman when asked about the Pacifica Quartet’s decision to record an album of quartets, quintets, and sextets by Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957), who also composed for Hollywood adventure films. “For me, Korngold is the master of the ‘evocative’ and possesses an uncanny ability to order sounds in such a way that it causes the listener to immediately grasp the moods and imagery of the moment. It is his lyricism and rich harmonic language that moves me.
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“And who doesn’t love a bit of swashbuckling fun from time to time?”
The Korngold Collection (Cedille) features Korngold’s String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 16; String Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 26; String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 34; Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 15, with pianist Orion Weiss; and String Sextet in D major, Op. 10, with violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt and cellist Eric Kim.
As a child prodigy, Korngold made an early name for himself and quickly gained a reputation for lush melodies. At 11, he penned the fanciful ballet Der Schneemann (The Snowman), a big hit with Austrian audiences. He soon followed with his Second Piano Sonata, which respected pianist Artur Schnabel performed throughout Europe, and a pair of one-act operas: Violanta and Der Ring des Polykrates, conducted by the legendary Bruno Walter. No less a personage than Gustav Mahler proclaimed the boy a genius. By the time he turned 23, Korngold was conducting his masterful Romantic work The Dead City at the Hamburg Opera—the Coen Brothers used an excerpt from that popular opera in the soundtrack of their cult-classic film The Big Lebowski.
But that wasn’t Korngold’s first encounter with Hollywood.
In 1934, Korngold fled the Nazi regime sweeping Europe and moved to Los Angeles. He went on to compose for 16 Hollywood films, winning Oscars for the scores to Anthony Adverse and the Errol Flynn epic The Adventures of Robin Hood. He subsequently received two more Oscar nominations.
“It is remarkable to consider Korngold’s success in his earliest years as one of the great child prodigies of the 20th century,” Hartman says. “It is even more astounding to consider how much of his success at this age is connected to works that he composed for the stage. To write a few impressive pieces for a solo instrument at a young age is one thing, but for Korngold to so successfully engage a cast of performers in an opera or ballet at this time in his life is truly remarkable. For me, it showcases Korngold’s profound mastery of compositional technique, even in these earliest years, that musically evokes deep emotion while also telling a really engaging narrative. It shouldn’t be surprising that this prodigy of the stage eventually carves out a great career as one of Hollywood’s finest.”
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In recording Korngold’s evocative chamber pieces, the Pacifica Quartet (violinists Hartman and Simin Ganatra, violist Mark Holloway, and cellist Brandon Vamos, all on faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music) sought to accentuate the composer’s renowned command of melody and harmony, as first evidenced in those early operas and later in his film scores. “Korngold writes very expressive melodies that are rich in harmony,” Ganatra says. “His music is very well crafted and his harmonic language is often very adventurous. It is music that tells a story and requires players to think about how every part fits into that story. We hope people hear how deep and moving Korngold’s chamber music is, not just film music, but powerful, personal expressions. Also, the recording project doesn’t just include the three quartets, but also his early sextet and the piano quintet. So I hope listeners hear how Korngold’s voice matures, from youthful, Viennese Classical and late-Romantic influences through to the impact film scoring had on his writing and his more mature style.”
Indeed, the album deftly traces Korngold’s evolution as a composer and captures his mastery of song, as heard within the Piano Quintet’s middle movement, an homage to his then-future wife Luise (Luzi) von Sonnenthal. “Korngold was a gifted composer of vocal music and opera, too, and that inspires the dialogue and communication in his string chamber music,” says Holloway of the Pacifica’s approach to recording these works. “Themes are constantly being tossed around the group: One person might start a phrase and hand it to another person, who elevates it to another level, where another player completes the thought. Melodies and countermelodies swirl around each other. Constantly shifting tempi and extremely precise notations of rhythmic freedom are hallmarks of Korngold’s writing, and if you listen to recordings of him playing his own music on the piano, you will be mesmerized by the freedom and wonderfully natural rubato he possessed. Pizzicati, harmonics, and col legno in the scores create extra-special atmospheres. Having an extra viola and cello in the sextet, for example, frees up the first viola and first cello to be more soloistic voices. Having pairs of violas and cellos makes for different permutations of duos and opportunities for different timbres and textures. Korngold was a master at his craft, and the ravishing harmonic language, lyricism, and creativity in his music are incredibly inspiring.”
Vamos adds that even though decades have passed since Korngold composed these works, and many of the films he scored have slipped into obscurity, there is a timeless quality about the music. “One of our main goals with this project is to introduce these wonderful pieces of music to young musicians, as well as to our audience,” he says. “The string quartets have been rarely programmed, and that is beginning to change. Why he has been neglected is somewhat a mystery after spending time with this music. The composition and creativity are so special, and audiences are quite taken with the emotional range. We are hoping that young chamber musicians will begin to perform these musical gems more regularly, and they can take their place in the traditional repertoire. The Third Quartet is an extremely interesting piece. Each movement is unique, and there is so much color and creativity within the work. His films are quoted in three movements, from Between Two Worlds in the trio of the second movement, the love theme from The Sea Wolf in the beautiful third movement, and from Devotion in the last movement. The mix of this lush Hollywood sound and his depth as a serious composer of intimate chamber music is a perfect blend.”
The decision to record Korngold arrives during a fertile period for the Pacifica Quartet. It joins two other recordings released in 2025—River of Fire, with the Cavatina Duo, a collection of Romani songs by Stacy Garrop, Matthew Dunne, Atanas Ourkouzounov, and Clarice and Sérgio Assad; and French Impressions, with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and pianist Orion Weiss, featuring works by Germaine Tailleferre and Ernest Chausson. “In 2024, our quartet reached the 30th anniversary milestone,” Hartman says. “In wanting to informally celebrate this anniversary coupled with our keen interest in Korngold’s music, we thought recording the complete cycle of his string quartets, while also collaborating with friends in his piano quintet and sextet, was a meaningful way for us to recognize this moment in time.”
Adds Ganatra: “Each album this year has its own style, and Korngold adds a romantic, dramatic voice to that mix. As a group, we are feeling energized with new ideas and an excitement for exploring great music. We are excited to bring these underplayed works into the quartet canon.”
The individual members of the Pacifica had varying degrees of familiarity with Korngold’s music, and the decision to record his chamber works generated deep discussions within the ensemble. “I first played a work by Korngold in my youth orchestra, where we played The Schauspiel Overture, which he wrote as a 14-year-old boy,” Hartman recalls. “It’s incredible to think that somebody even younger than I was at the time could have written with such instinct and depth of feeling. Later, I played some snippets of his film music as a guest with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by John Williams, and in Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops, concerts that celebrated music from Hollywood’s golden age. At the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, I listened once from the wings as colleagues performed the unique Suite for Piano Left Hand—with two violins and cello—a wonderful and fiendishly difficult piece. However, the first piece of his I heard and fell in love with was the rapturous Violin Concerto, in the legendary recording by Jascha Heifetz. You can also find a breathtaking recording online of his live performance from Carnegie Hall, just a month after he gave the premiere, an absolutely sublime performance.”
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Because the ensemble had never performed these works together, Holloway says the Pacifica had a chance to approach the music with collectively open minds. “We didn’t bring any baggage to the project,” he says. “That made it feel very fresh to dive into these pieces, and we looked to the scores themselves for inspiration and answers to our musical questions. When we played at the Library of Congress recently, we were lucky enough to hold several of these manuscripts in our hands, which was incredibly inspiring. It was also helpful to know that he borrowed some themes from his own film scores—it was in his Warner Brothers contract that he could use music from his film scores in his concert compositions—but his music is so evocative and colorful no matter where the themes came from. Otherwise, we approached this music like any other great music, trying to figure out what the most important voices are, how to communicate the characters and special colors, and how to bring out the myriad countermelodies and interesting lines while maintaining clarity.
“I had the pleasure of playing both the sextet and the quintet years ago at a festival in Switzerland,” he adds, “so I got to know them quite well because of the amount of preparation necessary to be able to put them together in just a few days! While composers who write for film can sometimes be pigeonholed into a certain style, Korngold started writing for this medium only later in life, continuing the innate and wide-ranging expression that he already possessed as a teenager.”
That’s not to say recording Korngold wasn’t without its challenges. “The rich textures of his music make clarity and good balance especially challenging to achieve,” Holloway adds. “Just like in a Brahms sextet, or Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, where there are so many compelling lines going on at once, it’s common to overplay and inadvertently encourage everyone else to play louder too. Eventually, not just the volume is too much, but the character of the music itself is changed. We thought a lot about not forcing our sounds, but instead creating clear textures and an infinite variety of colors, the better to highlight the principal voices and beautiful details without creating thick walls of sound.”
When it came time to select the additional players for the quintet and sextet, the decision to invite Weiss, Kim, and Pájaro-van de Stadt was a no-brainer, Holloway says. “When we thought about who we might like to collaborate with, we thought of friends and colleagues whose playing we admire,” he notes. “We’ve played with the terrific pianist Orion Weiss on many occasions, and he was keen to join us for the quintet, which has such a colorful and expressive piano part. Milena and Eric came to mind immediately because, like Orion, they are seasoned chamber musicians who play with intuition, sharp reflexes, and deep expression. We rehearsed and discussed the pieces in detail in preparation for the recording, but when we got to the session, so many wonderfully unplanned and spontaneous things happened. They’re such great musicians and friends of ours. We were so grateful to make music together.
“Everyone was so excited to study and record this music because there is so much to discover in these pieces, which aren’t played very often. If you’re lucky enough to play them at a festival, you’re usually limited in rehearsal time. Preparing for the recording gave us the luxury of digging as deeply as possible into the scores to explore the details and help bring them to life.”
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What the Pacificas Play
Simin Ganatra, violin: 1669 Hieronymus Amati
Austin Hartman, violin: 1757 Ferdinando Gagliano
Mark Holloway, viola: 1912 Ferruccio Varagnolo
Brandon Vamos, cello: c. 1580s Gasparo da Salò
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