I just picked up one of the newest offerings in London's Entarte Musik
series--The Symphony #1 and the "Last Pierrot" by Karol Rathaus.  You can't
miss the cover--creepiest thing since Birgit as Solome.  Just when you
thought things couldn't get scarier there's a pic of Israel Yinon, the
conductor, on the inside--Pierre Boulez with Barbara Streisand's hair!
How will I sleep tonight....

I digress.

The Symphony #1 sounds at once heady, sophisticated and approachable yet
doesn't have the distracting Hollywood gloss of Korngold; it's closest
cousin would be the angular, almost atonal music of Schoenberg's "Pelleas."
But while Schoenberg always seems to be saying, "no 19th-Century dawdling
a la "Gurrelieder" -- we have to move on;" Rathaus says, "yeah, we gotta
move on but I'm really trying hard to make this new aesthetic sound good."

Is he the "real thing?"  Of all the composers in the Entarte series I would
say that Rathaus' teacher, Franz Schreker was the biggest find.

Rathaus may be up there.

John--forget the opera houses burn down the hair salons--Smyth