Bernard Herrmann: Music From Great Film Classics

As John Williams has a long standing relationship with Sony Classical and recording with the Boston Pops Orchestra, so Bernard Herrmann had a rather more brief relationship with London Records and recorded a few albums containing suites from his film scores. It had never been Herrmann's intention to become a film composer, he always wanted to be a concert hall conductor. I think it would have been a great loss if he had become a conductor; that is not to say he is a poor conductor, as while his film music is irreplacable, his conducting is best described as a little idiosyncratic. Even when he conducts re-recordings of his own music does it show how different he would interpret his music when given the chance. The first thing that is noticeable about this recording is how much the sound is very upfront and almost sounding as though the instruments have the microphones attached to them individually. This was Decca's curious Phase 4 Stereo which was supposed to give the clearest sound ever. What it does do is make a lot of the recording sound a little unnatural and instead of sounding in unison, the individual parts stick out far too much. In the case of Herrmann's music, this is not such a problem since he often used only small sections of the orchestra or very much non-standard orchestration. The other thing that is obvious about Herrmann's re-recordings is how much slower he tended to take things compared with the original tempo. Indeed, certain things (such as Psycho on a different London compilations) are incredibly slow compared to the dynamic originals. It was his intention, so I believe, to let the music breathe a little more, but I do rather think he didn't need to slow thigns up so much. the Overture from Citizen Kane is very obviously played under tempo and so sounds perhaps a little lethargic. Fortunately, the following tracks are rather more sprightly although the very upfront sound always makes the music seem a lot heavier than it should.

Jane Eyre has been given more film interpretations that any other literary classic as far as I can tell and this particular working was lucky enough to be blessed with an excellent Herrmann score. The suite contained here gently blends all the different moments from the score into a cohesive whole. The atmosphere is generally not too much different from that created by John Williams with his intimate score for a later re-working; mostly sombre, but with a few more sprightly moments. Perhaps one of Herrmann's lesser known scores, but as always an excellent composition. The same could be said for Snows of Kilimanjaro which has so far only (to date and to the best of my knowledge) been released with this ten minute selection. The Memory Waltz is another of those wonderful lilting Herrmann waltzes in the same manner as the one he created for De Palma's Obsession. Between Jane Eyre and Snows of Kilimanjaro are the two most notable segments from Herrmann's only Oscar winning score, The Devil and Daniel Webster. The Sleigh Ride is as would be expected, joyful and with lots of Christmas percussion jangling away in the background, all the while laced with some mordent humour. Swing Your Parnters is a slightly psychotic hoe down, the relevance to the film I am slightly at a loss to explain, but it's enjoyable none the less. It is almost ironic that this score is so un-Herrmann like in its style compared to say something like Psycho or Vertigo and yet it won the Oscar. Perhaps the Academy's tastes are a little on the traditional side and weren't fully capable of appreciating Herrmann's intense creativity.

Two fantasy scores round out the album. The first from Mysterious Island which sees Herrmann using his weird orchestration to most notable effect, particularly with the blundering low brass for the crab and the rather Flight of the Bumblebee stylings of The Giant Bee (complete with sound effects at the opening). The lethargy in Herrmann's reading is very noticeable in the prelude from the Ray Harryhausen classic Jason and the Argonauts, being at least half a minute longer than most other readings. If the intention was give it even more booming heroism then I'd say that it rather sounds like Jason had a gammy leg than was boldly herioc, it just doesn't work for me I'm afraid. The other sections do come across rather better and close the album in decent style.

It would be over critical of me to give this album a poorer rating since it is conducted by the composer and if he wants to perform his music slower or differently or however he chooses then I would not dare argue with such a great talent. However, to my mind, a lot of the energy is lost with the slowness and much of the delicacy is lost with the very upfront, although very detailed recording. Worth getting for the hard to find selections certainly, but if this is a first album then it is rather different sounding to more 'authentic' album presentations.