Set to a brief text by Hans Müller specially written for the twelve-year old composer, the Märchenbilder are extremely tuneful and melodic and demonstrate the clear and complete understanding of the piano Korngold already possessed. They were dedicated to the Archduke Eugen, who had already demonstrated great interest in and public patronage of the child prodigy. The pieces were all orchestrated under the tutelage of Alexander Zemlinsky in late 1910, just before the latter left Vienna, and are just as memorable in that form as they are in the original. A 1911 Leipzig concert in which the young Korngold played the work elicited a comment from a reviewer that they were "...astounding feats of composition and of piano-playing, in which the composer's age is not to be taken into consideration."



© All Music Guide