Much has been made of Erich Korngold’s astounding teenage mastery of late-19th-century harmony and orchestration. Given such technical assurance, it’s surprising to find the Viennese composer struggling somewhat with the three-movement E major piano quintet he wrote in his early 20s. More specifically, the material is broad and gestural, and seems better suited to a large orchestra rather than the intimate parameters of a string quartet plus piano. The Suite for two violins, cello, and piano left hand, though, hits the jackpot. Korngold deploys his instrumental forces with adroit ingenuity and a frothy imagination to match. It’s hard to believe that the dazzling piano writing really falls within the compass of a single hand. These fluent, skillfully balanced performances aren’t as well oiled or colorfully nuanced as those by Bengt Forsberg and Friends on Deutsche Grammophon, nor are they as sumptuously engineered. And neither pianist matches Leon Fleisher’s charged exuberance in the Suite (Sony). Collectors desiring these works on a single disc, though, will enjoy what’s here.
