The Korngold revival shows no signs of abating. This ASV issue adds two further titles from his last years (he died in 1957)‚ when despite the appearance of the Heifetz recording of his Violin Concerto in 1953‚ he considered himself a forgotten figure. The Theme and Variations‚ Op 42‚ employs an original melody to be played ‘like an Irish folk tune’ that might have strayed from one of those domestic dramas of cod­Irish life that John Ford directed in the 1940s. Korngold’s tune avoids the excessive sentimentality associated with such a genre and in the subsequent variations explores varieties of mood akin to Delius’s Appalachia: Variation V has a marked Delian feeling about it (the tricky Variation 1 might have been played with more polish). The other new entry is Straussiana‚ a beguiling three movement suite in homage to the Waltz King. It ends with a truly sumptuous waltz from the flop operetta Ritter Pasman that lifts the spirits in the same manner as the earlier Tales of Strauss‚ where listeners will recognise excerpts from the Emperor‚ Accelerations and Blue Danube waltzes weaving in and out of the tapestry. These two selections go with a real swing under conductor Caspar Richter‚ who audibly urges the orchestra on at key moments. The other works‚ the Märchenbilder (‘Fairy Tale Pictures’) and the theatre overtures testify to Korngold’s early assurance and craftsmanship as a composer and suggest in their darker colours the greater composer that he might have been‚ (he was just 14 years old when Henry Wood conducted his Schauspiel Overture at a Prom in 1912). These works are included in a Chandos anthology where Matthias Bamert and the BBC Philharmonic bring an extra air of festivity to the Carnival Music from Violanta and a greater drive to the climaxes of the Schauspiel Overture that seems over long in this anthology. The ASV recording is full bodied and projects these weighty scores with due clarity.