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One day, in the early 1960's, a professorial-looking older man with with wildly scattered salt and pepper hair, wearing a rumpled gray suit and black horn-rimmed glasses, walked into the record store I was managing in Studio City and asked for a recording of Richard Strauss' "Metamorphosen", conducted by Otto Klemperer. I told him that we had that recording in stock and also recommended another "much better" performance by Hermann Scherchen. He asked why I thought this performance was better and I offered to play both of the records for him, so he could decide for himself.
After listening to selections from both recordings, he agreed that the Scherchen might be a shade better. However, the Klemperer was, in some ways, superior. He asked me to play the Klemperer again and showed me what he meant. I had to agree with him and asked if he was a music teacher or something. He answered that he didn't have the patience to be a good teacher; that he was "too much of a task-master". He said that he would buy both recordings and, just before he left, introduced himself as Bernard Hermann!
Hermann became one of my regular customers and, before he bought a recording, always asked my opinion. We then compared our choices and he often bought both recordings. Contrary to what maestro Hermann originally told me, he proved to be an excellent teacher!
Bernard Hermann was also an excellent composer and conductor.
I am a long-time devotee of "good" film music and still prefer the more romantic styles of Eric Wolfgang Korngold, Miklos Rosza, Max Steiner, John Williams and others to Hermann's more "abstract" style.
I think, unlike the composers I mentioned, it's difficult to appreciate Hermann's music "out-of-context", the "context" obviously being the film for which it was written. Take what is perhaps his most well known piece - the "shower scene" from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". There's absolutely no question that Hermann's music was mostly responsible the emotional impact of that frightening scene. However, if one who has never seen the film listens to the music I doubt that it would make sense and, lacking this vital perspective, one might find (and reject) it as disturbing and unpleasant!
"Vertigo" and "Fahrenheit 451" have long been two of my favorite films and much of their appeal stems from Hermann's hauntingly beautiful scores.I purchased this CD mainly for "Vertigo: Suite: III. Scène D'Amour" and what appears to be the complete suite of music from "Fahrenheit 451" .
In total, this album comes closest to a representative sampling of Hermann's best work. Esa-Pekka Salonen's interpretations are perhaps definitive and the playing and sound of the orchestra is marvelous!
If that's not enough to interest you in purchasing this recording: when you buy the CD, you can download the MP3 album for free!
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Amazon Customer
from hitchcocks great
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2016
L424R05
The best collection of Hitchcock soundtracks you can buy today!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2012
