THE CLASSIC FILM MUSIC OF BERNARD HERRMANN
Rating: 
Original Review: Since his untimely death in 1976, Bernard Herrmann's music has rightly become regarded as some of the most important and challenging ever written. And, while I confess to not being the greatest Herrmann fan ever, in the interests of film music history I thought it necessary to familiarise myself with some of his more famous works through this excellent 1995 release by the ever dependable Silva Screen. All Herrmann's most famous themes are presented here, from the now-legendary shrieking strings of 'Psycho' and the classic jazz-influenced Nightpiece for Saxophone and Orchestra from 'Taxi Driver', to the lush melodies of the love themes from 'On Dangerous Ground' and 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro', and the bombastic action from 'Jason and the Argonauts'. My favourite tracks are, unsurprisingly, the more soft and delicate themes, like the aforementioned Blindness cue from 'On Dangerous Ground' , the beautiful Valse Lente waltz from 'Obsession' and the tender theme from 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir', but on the whole there is nothing that leaps out and grabs you by the eardrums to make you think "wow, that's great". Simply a fitting tribute to one of the cinema's finest composers.
Track Listing:
- Prelude from The Man Who Knew Too Much
- Prelude/The School/Panic/Finale from Cape Fear
- Overture from Citizen Kane
- Suite from On Dangerous Ground
- Valse Lente from Obsession
- Memory Waltz from The Snows of Kilimanjaro
- A Night Piece for Saxophone and Orchestra from Taxi Drives
- Main Title/Finale from The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
- Suite from Psycho
- Suite from Vertigo
- Main Title/Gromek/The Killing from Torn Curtain
- The Ray Harryhausen Fantasy Film Suite (The Three Worlds of Gulliver/The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad/Mysterious Island/Jason and the Argonauts)
Running Time:
Silva Screen, 1995
Music composed by Bernard Herrmann. Conducted by Paul Bateman. Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic. Orchestrations by Bernard Herrmann and Christopher Palmer. Recorded and mixed by John Timperley and Mark Ayres. Album produced by James Fitzpatrick.
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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1997. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.