Korngold: Sursum Corda Op.13 / Sinfonietta Op.5

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) earned his bread-and-butter money writing for the movies in Hollywood. But all along he was a serious composer--and got booed a couple of times. This was the fate of Sursum Corda (1920), with its staunch refusal to stick to the standard sonata format. The tempo and the meter are constantly changing; the first audience to hear it actually heckled the orchestra. Sinfonietta was written when (gulp!) the composer was 15 years old. You wouldn't know it, except for its brightness and playful character. It's actually quite a brilliant work. Familiarize yourself with it. -- Paul Cook