For those not in the know, violinist Paul Huang adds his voice to the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States with a new album dedicated to two concertos from the mid-twentieth century that celebrate the expressive and narrative qualities of his instrument: Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 and Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14. Huang recorded both with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jun Märkl for the album, which comes out on June 19 on naïve classiques.

After two chamber music albums recorded for the naïve label with Helen Huang – Mirrors (Poulenc, Pärt & Prokofiev) in 2025 and Kaleidoscope (Saint-Saëns, Respighi, Chopin and Paganini) in 2023 – Huang chose to record the concertos by Barber and Korngold for their “long-arched melodies, sumptuous harmonic language, and emotionally transparent climaxes.”

These two concertos, dating from the mid-twentieth century, offered Huang the challenge of painting a “sound world that is both luscious and intimate.” To meet this challenge, he is joined by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Jun Märkl, a conductor with whom he frequently collaborates in concert.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold – an Austrian composer who fled to America in 1936 under pressure from the rise of Nazism – composed extensively for Hollywood. Here, he notably draws his thematic material from several of his earlier film scores from the late 1930s including Another Dawn, Juarez, Anthony Adverse, and The Prince and the Pauper.

Meanwhile, American-born composer Samuel Barber captures the atmosphere of the United States in the 1930s, while also evoking the vast American landscapes and the industrial dynamism of New York. “A profound vulnerability emerges from these two works, particularly in their sublime slow movements,” the violinist notes.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 – 1957)
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
I. Moderato nobile
II. Romance. Andante
III. Finale. Allegro assai vivace

Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981)
Violin Concerto Op. 14
I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Presto in modo perpetuo

With Huang having a fine command of the rhapsodic character of the opening movement, he opens on Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: beginning on the sprightly Moderato nobile, then bringing us the alluringly subtle Romance. Andante, rounding out on the emotively astute Finale. Allegro assai vivace.

Up next is Barber’s Violin Concerto Op. 14: which begins with the resoundingly gathered Allegro before we are gifted the sheer elegance of Andante, coming to a close on the frantically-channeled Presto in modo perpetuo.

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