Bernard Herrmann - The Film Scores / L.A. Phil. · Salonen [Soundtrack]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Over the years, and thanks to the CD revolution, film music has come into its own. Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) has given us some of the most distinct film scores of any composer. As the lists of titles show, Herrmann did a number of Alfred Hitchcock movies--Psycho, Marnie, North by Northwest, Vertigo, and Torn Curtain. What is remarkable is how these works cohere as atmospheric tone poems. Fahrenheit 451: Suite for Strings, Harps, and Percussion has the same kind of atmospherics as some of Arnold Bax's tone poems of the 1930s. This music does not need a visual medium. It's that good. --Paul Cook

Amazon.com essential recording
One of the more laudable side effects of the "crossover" craze affecting (or afflicting, depending on your perspective) the classical music business has been the reclamation of film music as part of the mainstream symphonic repertoire. It's always belonged there. Before there were movies, composers wrote music for plays, and this so-called "incidental" music has given us some of out most popular classics, including Grieg's Peer Gynt, Beethoven's Egmont, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's... read more

Bernard Herrmann - The Film Scores / L.A. Phil. · Salonen [Soundtrack]

Tracks:

The Man Who Knew Too Much: Prelude
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: Prelude
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The City
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The Rainstorm
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The Madhouse
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The Murder
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The Water
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The Swamp
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The Stairs
The Knife
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: The Cellar
Psycho: A Suite For Strings: Finale
Marnie: Suite: Prelude
Marnie: Suite: The Hunt
North By Northwest: Overture - B. HERRMANN
Vertigo: Suite: Prelude
Vertigo: Suite: The Nightmare
Vertigo: Suite: Scene D'Amour
Torn Curtain: Prelude
Torn Curtain: Gromek
Torn Curtain: The Killing
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: Prelude
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: Fire Engine
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: The Bedroom
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: The Reading
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: The Garden
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: The Nightmare
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: Flowers Of Fire
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: Flamethrower
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: The Captain's Death
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: The Road
Fahrenheit 451: Suite For Strings, Harp And Percussion: Finale
Taxi Driver: A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Sax: Prelude
Taxi Driver: A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Sax: Blues
Taxi Driver: A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Sax: Night Prowl
Taxi Driver: A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Sax: Bloodbath
Taxi Driver: A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Sax: Finale

Amazon.com essential recording

One of the more laudable side effects of the "crossover" craze affecting (or afflicting, depending on your perspective) the classical music business has been the reclamation of film music as part of the mainstream symphonic repertoire. It's always belonged there. Before there were movies, composers wrote music for plays, and this so-called "incidental" music has given us some of out most popular classics, including Grieg's Peer Gynt, Beethoven's Egmont, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Bizet's L'Arlesienne. Hermann was one of the great film music composers of all time, and his scores fit naturally into a great and illustrious tradition, nowhere more so than in this award-winning recording. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

A generous collection, well played.......2004-08-17

You might expect the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its resident conductor to specialize in film music. They an OK job with this music, which for the most part retains Herrmann's eerie reality in "Fahrenheit 451" and the shocking reality of "Psycho". It also includes from some of Herrmann's lesser scores -- "Marnie" and "Torn Curtain" -- and the famous overture from "North By Northwest".

While this is all performed dutifully by conductor and orchestra, the disk is a glib remake of the composer's original music recorded on London Phase Four CDs between 1969-75. A disk of his Hitchcock music is often available used through an Amazon search. Sometimes you can also find a copy of "Bernard Herrmann Great Film Music" that contains science fiction scores conducted by the composer.

Compared to the composer-conducted scores, Salonen's work is the best that is available today. Unfortunately, it is a limp-wristed second place version that cannot stand comparison to Herrmann's original vision in this music. Settling for this CD is just that. It is a compromise of this unworldly original music.

Another strike against this is the ridiculous photo of the conductor on the CD cover, as if to say he is the story. There is little that has distinguished the thus far early career of Mr. Salonen. He certainly does not compare to the best film score composer in history. This marketing tactic smacks of the cult of personality that follows John Gardiner, whose face almost always adorns his CD covers.

I would remind these companies that, in classical and serious music, it is the original composing artist that sells, not the reproduction artist (AKA conductor). For without the composer's original art, there is no reason for the reproduction artist to command attention in any way.

An exception to the rule.......2004-02-21

Usually, the rule is: Stay away from classical music orchestras trying to be convincing in the realm of Hollywood.

Not so for the LA Phil though, and especially not with a daredevil such as EPS! Nobody brings Hermann's music better to life than the ravishing strings in Psycho than EPS and his LA Phil. If they do it, they REALLY DO it! A wonderful and uncompromising approach to Filmmusic!

Total dedication. Go for it.

Not quite a 5, but I'm being really picky........2004-02-03

The CD that I really want does not exist. The best way, in my humble opinion, to hear the masterfully-composed film scores of Bernard Herrmann, short of watching the magnificent films in which they appear, is to hear the original soundtrack recordings. If somebody would get around to taking the best excerpts from all the films represented on this disc, plus Citizen Kane (of course!) and The Twilight Zone, and rerelease their original versions, now THAT would be the CD to get.

But here is our predicament. You'd have to buy 10 or so CDs to get the original recordings of all this wonderful music. When that is considered, this CD sounds like a great bargain, and in that respect, it is.

The excerpts represented on this disc are the best excerpts, and the playing is accurate and precise. The engineering also receives high marks for having completely clear sound and firmness of bass where the original recordings would not.

The Vertigo represented here is wonderful in its range and the depth of its tenderness, something the original soundtrack aspired to but did not achieve. It reminds me in the best way of Tristan and Isolde, but that's another conversation. The excerpts of Fahrenheit 451 and Taxi Driver are also very well played, especially the latter. The interpretations are in the spirit of the originals, and Salonen is to be commended.

Unfortunately, sometimes he just takes the wrong tempo. The overture to North by Northwest may sound better played faster, louder, and more obstreperously, but the original was smaller, quirkier, full of understated irascible ticks and obsessive weaving. I'm not sure which I like better. The rerecording is not bad, just different. (At high volume, though, it's better!)

The suite that really hit me the wrong way was Psycho. The quieter passages are perfect, but the violently urgent parts, like the overture and The Murder, seem to be played with an ounce of reserve. I realize that's not much, but any reserve can sink what should be complete terror. The players on the original recording sound like they are physically hurting their instruments. Here, they sound like they're only annoying them. However, this may be the result of my eccentric preference for original recordings. I'm used to hearing the Psycho score with scratches and pops and overplaying and mistakes. Maybe Salonen has improved on the original by refining it, but it will take me a while to forget the originals and appreciate these.

Bottom line: the engineering is much better, the playing is more accurate, the selections are superb, and the price is preferable. These benefits outweigh any of my insignificant bickering about the originals, because out of all the CDs you can buy of Bernard Herrmann, this may not be definitive, but it probably is the best we have.

Stupendous stuff but keep the lights on!.......2000-03-16

I have known Bernard Hermann's music since my father took me to see 'Mysterious Island' at the age of nine at the local fleapit. I took memories of the score home rather than the flawed movie, witb its tacky special effects. This magnificent CD gives us some of the best of Hermann, played in the enormous orchestral gestures that he demands from his orchestras and fabulously recorded for all fans. Play 'Psycho' and you realise those enormous tensions that had you squirming in your seat were as much Hermann as Hitchcock, Leigh or Perkins. The depiction of the brooding house, the sad shape standing alone, the famous stabbing strokes and those huge jarring chords, falling back in terror, make watching the film almost an optional extra. I read somewhere that Hermann composed orchestrally in his head at first instance, not needing to sort things out on instruments, etc. after he had composed something on piano like most composers. Hearing 'Marnie' with its yearning theme depicting her psychological strain you can believe this. Hermann's music is the biggest sound you can get with the modern symphony orchestra. He composed for 120 pieces, 8 horns, triple woodwind, large battery of percussion, divided massed strings...the whole works and his coloration with this large body is unique. My personal favorie is his use of the brass which he does with more versatility to my mind than any other composer. His melodic gift is of the highest order and his large structures create immense blocks of sound which transport the listener into a mood that is totally different to where they started out at. For me the disc will enable any stranger to the work of this composer of the first magnitude to really appreciate this genius who helped entertain whole populations rather than stick with a cultural elite in the concert hall. His music made rather than supported the action in these movies. I do not believe he compromised his art in any way as every bar seems as authentic as Debussy. Over a hour of joy for the purchaser, nothing more to say!

May this great CD give Herrmann the credit he deserves.......1999-09-09

Psycho, one of my favorite films, is truly a mastepiece, and one of the things that makes the film so outstanding, is Bernard Herrmann's great musical score. This music has been sounding in my ears ever since I watched Psycho for the first time (and I have watched it many times after that) and when I heard about this CD with the music from Psycho and other great films by Hitchcock I didn't hesitate one minute and ordered it right away from Amazon. I was not disappointed. Herrmann is undoubtedly one of the great composers of the 20th century although far too many music lovers have never heard about him. The recording is excellent and Salonen conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic with style and accuracy making it perfectly clear that good film music can stand on its own if the composer is a master of his craft. One of the best CD of the ninetys.

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