Violinist Paul Huang plays concertos of Korngold & Barber with London Philharmonic and Jun Märkl out June 19 on naïve

“Huang’s sound is full and enveloping, without a hint of pushing or stridency. The warmth of the G string continues to the heights of the E string. His harmonics are impossibly clear and focused.” – Violinist.com 

NEW YORK, NY – May 14, 2026 – Violinist Paul Huang adds his voice to the celebrations marking the 250^th 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.
 
In an interview for the album, Huang shares, “These concertos offer two complementary visions of American musical identity. Korngold brought with him the lush Romantic idiom of Old Europe and transformed it within the new world of Hollywood, creating a uniquely American fusion of cinematic sweep and classical craft. Barber, by contrast, was born into the fabric of American musical life: his concerto channels a distinctly homegrown voice – lyrical, direct, and emotionally forthright – that resonates with the openness and individuality often associated with American art. Together, these works trace the cultural story of a nation shaped both by the brilliance of immigrants who reimagined their traditions on new soil and by composers whose music expresses the country’s own evolving sensibility.”

TRACKLIST:
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

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