Customer Reviews

Bernard Herrmann: The Film Scores

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As much (if not more) than any other film composer, Bernard Herrmann's music stands up to listening independent of the films. The emphasis here is on Herrmann's scores for Hitchcock, when both men were arguably at their creative heights.

Note: this is NOT a collection of original soundtrack recordings. However, Salonen and the LA Philharmonic at absolutely top-notch, and the recording is beautiful. Certain subtleties are actually easier to hear on this recording than on some of the originals.

As if I couldn't recommend this highly enough, the price has been reduced on this reissue! This deserves a wide audience, don't hesitate to buy it.

Salonen is to be congratulated for having assembled an unusual and striking program here. Yes, he has some of the warhorses (VERTIGO, PSYCHO) and that's great, but this disc is more about these other things: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, TORN CURTAIN, FAHRENHEIT 451 and TAXI DRIVER. I particularly appreciate the long suite from FAHRENHEIT 451 (which should have received an Oscar nomination in 1966) and the generous set from TAXI DRIVER. The orchestra is dead-on with this music and Salonen is clearly into it.

Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic produce fine performances of a selection of Herrmann's post-1955 film scores.

The music itself is of variable musical interest.
The music from "The Man who Knew too Much", "Vertigo", "Marnie", "North by Northwest", "Taxi Driver" and "Psycho" shows Herrmann at his best.
"Torn Curtain" and "Fahrenheit 451" find Herrmann at his least inspired and it is a pity Salonen didn't jettison these items in favour of something else.

The performances cannot be faulted and lovers of Herrmann's music will find much to enjoy here.

It's nice to have all these pieces together in one place, and for a reasonable price, and not a carbon copy of the originals, but there are a couple of problems. If one is familiar with the originals from either from having seen the films (the Hitchcock pieces) or owning the original soundtrack albums ("Taxi Driver"), or having heard Herrmann's own conducting of the suites on an out-of-print London/Phase IV release from 1970, then most of these are going to sound, well, a little . . . off. The sound mix is way heavy on the low end of the spectrum, and some of the pieces are simply played way too fast -- the "North by Northwest" theme and the "Taxi Driver" prelude, in particular. The "Psycho" suite is very well-interpreted musically, but again, if you're used to hearing the quality of the sound when it's played on TV (even with a good home theater setup) or particularly in a movie theater, then there's something overblown and a bit hollow about it.

As a huge Hitchcock fan and the believer in the immense contribution that a great film score can make to the effectiveness of a film, I keep growing in my appreciation of Herrmann's work. This is an outstanding CD, in terms of both the level of performance and its technical qualities.

Bernard Herrmann is one of the best composers of film music. I would rate him on the same page as John Williams who composed music for many films as many may know. If you are into classical music, Bernard Herrmann's Film Scores album is one of the best choices. The only exception is the last section on the album is a sort of slow jazz music from the movie, Taxi Driver. It, however is very relaxing.