Mäßiges Zeitmaß, mit schwungvoll blühendem Ausdruck [Moderate speed, with blossoming expression]
Adagio (Freie Variationen über die Lieder des Abschieds) [free variations on the Songs of Farewell, Op. 14]
3. Finale. Gemessen beinahe pathetisch – Allegro giocoso [Measured but emotional]

Before Korngold reached his twelfth birthday, his cantata Gold was acclaimed by Mahler as the work of a ‘musical genius’ and his ballet The Snowman was performed at the Vienna Opera. Korngold continued to develop thorough his teens, and in his early twenties he enjoyed phenomenal success with the opera Die tote Stadt, given a simultaneous premiere in Hamburg and Cologne in 1920. The Quintet was completed in 1921 and the first performance was in Hamburg on 16 February 1923, with Korngold at the piano. It was published in 1924 with a dedication to Gustinus Ambrosi, a sculptor who had made a bust of the 14-year-old Korngold which was destroyed in the war. There are three substantial movements. The first begins with a heroic idea that gives way to a more reflective cello solo and a delicate new theme, decked with trills (and a hint of Mahler). After extensive development, the movement ends with an impassioned recollection of the opening. The Adagio is a set of variations based on Mond, so gehst du wieder auf (Moon, thus you rise once more’ from Korngold’s Four Songs of Farewell. With its distinctive drooping intervals, the theme is treated with great ingenuity. The finale begins with a dramatic idea in octaves and a short violin cadenza that leads to the main Allegro giocoso in which Korngold is at his most uninhibited.

Nigel Simeone