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Peter Erskine: Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner

By Jack Bowers
February 10, 2025
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Peter Erskine: Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner

From Vienna to Hollywood is versatile drummer

Peter Erskine

drums
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Erskine's ardent homage to the (mostly) film music of the renowned Academy Award-winning Viennese composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner, who wrote some of filmdom's most memorable themes during Hollywood's Golden Age in the decades from 1930 to 1960. To transpose their film scores to the jazz genre, Erskine uses a talented group of performers from Vienna's JAM Music Lab University (where he serves as artist-in-residence), supplanted on two numbers by a masterful string quartet.

Korngold, who came to Hollywood in 1934—five years after Steiner—is best known for his marvelous score for the 1938 Errol Flynn blockbuster, The Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner Bros. Pictures), and Erskine raises the curtain with that film's familiar "March of the Merry Men," on which his trustworthy timekeeping is bolstered by earnest solos from pianist

Danny Grissett

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Danny Grissett, trumpeter

Thomas Gansch

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Thomas Gansch and tenor saxophonist

Herwig Gradischnig

saxophone, baritone

" data-original-title="" title="">Herwig Gradischnig, yeoman work by percussionist

Brian Kilgore

percussion

" data-original-title="" title="">Brian Kilgore?and some spirited counterpoint. That is the first of five consecutive works by Korngold before Steiner takes the stage with the memorable "Tara's Theme" (followed by "Belle Watling"), both from the Oscar-winning film Gone with the Wind (Selznick and Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, 1939).

Preceding that are Korngold's "Sterbelied" (a solo showpiece for Grissett); "Old Spanish Song," whose melody was used in the film The Sea Hawk (Warner Bros., 1940); "The Boys Go to Play" (a lighthearted platform for flutist

Bob Sheppard

saxophone, tenor
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Sheppard, excised from The Prince and the Pauper, [20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Pictures, 1977]); and the exotic "Concerto Miniature," a theme from the second movement of Korngold's Violin Concerto in D-major, Op. 35, written for the great violinist Jascha Heifetz. The concerto is performed by

Judd Miller

electronics

" data-original-title="" title="">Judd Miller on EWI and the string quartet comprised of players from the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Bertl Mayer

harmonica

" data-original-title="" title="">Bertl Mayer is the harmonica soloist on "Old Spanish Song," while guitarist

Andreas Varady

guitar
b.1997

" data-original-title="" title="">Andreas Varady and vibraphonist

Flip Philipp

vibraphone

" data-original-title="" title="">Flip Philipp share the stage with Sheppard on "The Boys."

"Tara's Theme" is given a full jazz makeover, with trim solos by Grissett and Varady reinforced by percussion, hand claps and bongos. "Belle Watling" is similarly served, with gentler solos this time by Varady and Grissett. Steiner's theme from Johnny Belinda (Warner Bros., 1948—for which Jane Wyman won an Academy Award) is bright and refreshing, reinforcing a sunny calypso beat with an awesome solo by Gradischnig and powerful drumming by Erskine. The string quartet returns (with Grissett) for Korngold's String Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 26, which is followed by Steiner's enchanting theme from the film A Summer Place (Warner Bros., 1959) and the brief finale, "Ghost Coda," ably performed by violinist

Alyssa Park

violin

" data-original-title="" title="">Alyssa Park with special effects courtesy of Miller.

That is a suitable ending for an album that is essentially subdivided between jazz, film themes and chamber music. While Erskine does the best he can to underscore its jazz components, the fact remains that, notable as they are, these are basically movie scores that do not always lend themselves easily to alternate translations. Although the jazz presented here is excellent, it is also sporadic. High marks for that, and needless to say for the music as a whole, as it is never less than exquisite, with or without its jazz facade.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

March of the Merry Men; Sterbelied (from Lieder des Abschieds, Op. 14); Old Spanish Song; The Boys Go to Play; Concerto Miniature (theme from Violin Concerto, 2nd mvt.); Romance (Violin Concerto, 2nd mvt.); Tara��s Theme; Belle Watling; Johnny Belinda; String Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 26 (Larghetto); A Summer Place; Ghost Coda (theme from Violin Concerto, 2nd mvt.).

Personnel

Peter Erskine

drums

Herwig Gradischnig

saxophone, baritone

Thomas Gansch

trumpet

Bertl Mayer

harmonica

Bob Sheppard

saxophone, tenor

Judd Miller

electronics

Andreas Varady

guitar

Danny Grissett

piano

Thatiana Gomes

bass, acoustic

Fabricio Pereira

bass, acoustic

Flip Philipp

vibraphone

Brian Kilgore?

percussion

Alyssa Park

violin

Kristina Suklar

violin

Anastasia Lindberg

violin

Mario Gheorghiu

viola

Julia Schreyvogel

cello

Additional Instrumentation

Bob Sheppard: flute.

Album information

Title: Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner | Year Released: 2025 | Record Label: Origin Records

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