Die tote Stadt (The Dead City)

This transcription was created with the desire to make the beauty of Korngold’s music accessible on the piano, even without an orchestra or vocals.

The transcription is designed so that it can be performed as a standalone piano work – similar to how Franz Liszt once reworked Schubert’s songs for the piano. To reshape a work originally intended for operatic performance or with vocals for the piano means to unfold its content in a new timbre and thereby bring forth a different emotional depth. This is an artistic exploration that we musicians should continue in the future. The essence of the music remains intimate, regardless of the form of the sound. I hope that this arrangement will enable players and listeners to get closer to Korngold’s musical world and to experience new possibilities of expression and sensations in this work through the sound of the piano.

- Jeongro Park