Bruckner Orch/Frauenchor - Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Das Wunder der Haliane, Fairytale Pictures, Die Tote Stadt, Baby Serenade, Der Schneemann

There has been a major renaissance of interest in the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold over the last three decades. He is no longer the neglected, unknown master and the undiscovered wunderkind of 20th-century classical music. Korngold's life might be summarised as follows: A child prodigy who composed music that was too beautiful to be taken seriously at a time when modernism was sweeping the cultural stage; and a composer who, at the end of his life, was certain that he would remain a forgotten composer � at least in his homeland. As part of the trend to generate a wider appreciation of Korngold's music, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, under Caspar Richter, made these recordings for ASV in the late 1990s and early 2000s (now available as a 4-disc box set on Capriccio). They were pioneering efforts at the time and remain much appreciated for the overview they give us of Korngold�s oeuvre, beyond the handful of greatest hits available elsewhere.