"There are events in life that, looking back, you can clearly see left a lasting mark on who you became.

Paul Dukas's piece “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” was one of those events for me.

When I was around 11 years old, I was given an LP containing the music of Paul Dukas, a recitation of Goethe's poem, and a combination of poem and music. In my case, it wasn't Walt Disney's famous animated film. I only discovered that as an adult.

I had started playing the cello at 9, so classical music was already part of my world – though my horizons were still narrow. A little Beethoven, Mozart, and the occasional musical that my parents liked to listen to."

“The Sorcerer's Apprentice” opened the door to a new musical universe to me. The structure of the performance made me realize for the first time what film music is and what it can do. Although in this case it wasn't film music, the effect and essence were certainly cinematic. Colorful instrumentation, which is an essential part of storytelling, was a novelty for me. I became interested in the various instruments within an orchestra, their different sounds and possible combinations. As a teenager, you also have no problem listening to a piece over and over again.The educational effect was therefore enormous."

"I therefore dare to claim that “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” played a relevant role in my professional development: creating tools for producing virtual orchestral music. So it was no coincidence that I wanted to have a virtual orchestra version created based on our Synchron Stage sample libraries for our 25th anniversary. It goes without saying that our grand master of symphonic mock-ups, Jay Bacal, was commissioned to do the job. In addition to the musical aspect, the message of Goethe's poem is still highly relevant today. Perhaps more so today than ever before. We, humanity, are all essentially sorcerer's apprentices in some way."

Herbert Tucmandl (CEO), Vienna, March 2026