Topic: Herrmann's Humdinging House of (Hardly Haphazard) Harmonic Hoots

[Lethevich]

Wikipedia entry for Bernard Herrmann (1911–75)

It would be nice to have a thread on this fellow to centralise any discussion. I have had the cantata Moby Dick on my radar for some time due to several mentions by GMG members (Vandermolen in particular, I believe), but so far the only full piece by him that I have heard is the opera Wuthering Heights.

It's a fine, moody piece with some enjoyable Peter Grimes-esque orchestral interludes, and less razzle-dazzle than I had been expecting. With a suitably atmospheric staging, this could make a sumptuous DVD. A promising start! I'll investigate more of his music in the next few days, and hopefully we have some more fans on board!

[karlhenning]

Wikipedia entry for Bernard Herrmann (1911–75)

It would be nice to have a thread on this fellow to centralise any discussion. I have had the cantata Moby Dick on my radar for some time due to several mentions by GMG members (Vandermolen in particular, I believe), but so far the only full piece by him that I have heard is the opera Wuthering Heights.

It's a fine, moody piece with some enjoyable Peter Grimes-esque orchestral interludes, and less razzle-dazzle than I had been expecting. With a suitably atmospheric staging, this could make a sumptuous DVD. A promising start! I'll investigate more of his music in the next few days, and hopefully we have some more fans on board!

Well done, Sara!

His scoring for Psycho and North By Northwest (which may be all I know of his music) is expert, and value-added to the films.

[Dundonnell]

The Symphony is superb I have it on an old Koch cd(Phoenix Symphony Orchestra/James Sedares) coupled with Schuman's New England Triptych. Should still be available.

Pity he didn't write more orchestral music.

[Brewski]

Of the few Herrmann pieces I've heard so far, I've not heard any that I didn't like.  The CD below, with Salonen and the LA Phil, is not only a favorite Herrmann recording, but a fave recording, period.

(And thread title du jour, for sure.  )

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Argh, Bruce;  I don't know that I realized before that he'd scored Taxi Driver.  I'm not really keen to watch that flick again, but at some point I should, for purposes of paying attention to the score . . . .

[Dr. Dread]

I am about to display my massive Herrmann collection:



You are welcome... 

[karlhenning]

Of course, I must see Vertigo . . . which is the one briefly excerpted in Twelve Monkeys, I think.

[Brewski]

Of course, I must see Vertigo . . . which is the one briefly excerpted in Twelve Monkeys, I think.

Have you not seen Vertigo, Karl?  It is arguably my favorite Hitchcock film, and the score contributes a great deal to its power.

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Have you not seen Vertigo, Karl?  It is arguably my favorite Hitchcock film, and the score contributes a great deal to its power.

Never in toto, Bruce . . . I've certainly seen the odd bit . . . .

[tjguitar]

just ordered this one...

[Marc]

Have you not seen Vertigo, Karl? It is arguably my favorite Hitchcock film, and the score contributes a great deal to its power.

Count me in!

Although the end is a bit ....
.... hush, maybe Karl doesn't want to know.

The nightmare section with James Stewart is really awesome, and so is Hermann's mesmerizing music!

[karlhenning]

Count me in!

Although the end is a bit ....
.... hush, maybe Karl doesn't want to know.

No spoilers, dude!

[Marc]

No spoilers, dude!

Dude = inexperienced European or Asian citizen who moved to the Wild West without actually knowing what he was doing.
Synonyms: greenhorn, tenderfoot.

Of course, this is common knowledge to each and everyone.

Well Karl, surely you're a dude yourself, when Hitchcock's Vertigo is concerned! It's a classic, for heaven's sake!

Still, the end of this classic is a bit ..........

[Lethevich]

Just listened to Moby Dick - wow, hehe, very blood and thunder. It reminds me a little of Prokofiev's Seven, They Are Seven at times. It has that mid-century impact to it. Also rather massively scored and with a huge sweep. I certainly don't expect something like this from the usually modest form of the cantata - it is rather more like a choral symphony. Gonna be listening to this one a lot more in future

[Bogey]

Recently picked up some Herrmann on vinyl (as posted in the film music section):

   

[Catison]

Reading the title of this thread, I got vertigo until I looked north by northwest and saw the taxi driver with the sisters's torn curtains.  My temperature went to Fahrenheit 451, because the Egyptian is always letting the birds into the garden of evil.  That is the trouble with Harry, giving me a twisted nerve and no joy in the morning.  You couldn't say he was man who knew too much, but he was always the man in the gray flannel suit.  He told me the day the earth stood still we were on dangerous ground.  I thought he was psycho, because he is always talking about the naked and the dead for endless nights.  Perhaps that is why he likes his blue denim cape. Fear the wrong man, and it's alive.  Any citizen kane tell you that.

[Guido]

Just listened to Moby Dick - wow, hehe, very blood and thunder. It reminds me a little of Prokofiev's Seven, They Are Seven at times. It has that mid-century impact to it. Also rather massively scored and with a huge sweep. I certainly don't expect something like this from the usually modest form of the cantata - it is rather more like a choral symphony. Gonna be listening to this one a lot more in future

Where are you finding these CDs? Are you paying the extortionate prices that Amazon sellers seem to be charging?

[Dundonnell]

At the risk of repeating myself(which I am doing ) Bernard Herrmann would have wanted you to have listened to his only Symphony as well as the admittedly excellent film music.

The Symphony was written in 1941 on commission from the New York Philharmonic and CBS-a prestigious commission for a 30 year old composer. The CBS Symphony Orchestra gave the first performance two hours before Herrmann's wife gave birth to a daughter

Herrmann tried to get Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform the splendidly neo-romantic piece but Ormandy wanted to slash 15 minutes out of the score...the great conductor had an unfortunate tendency to want such cuts in other works too.

Some reviews-

http://www.amazon.com/Herrmann-Symphony-Schuman-England-Triptych/dp/B000001SF8

Herrmann was a very fine conductor as well, a great anglophile and supporter of British composers like Richard Arnell(whilst the young
Arnell was living and working in New Yourk during the war).

[karlhenning]

At the risk of repeating myself(which I am doing )

Oh, it's past risk, then 

[Guido]

At the risk of repeating myself(which I am doing ) Bernard Herrmann would have wanted you to have listened to his only Symphony as well as the admittedly excellent film music.

The Symphony was written in 1941 on commission from the New York Philharmonic and CBS-a prestigious commission for a 30 year old composer. The CBS Symphony Orchestra gave the first performance two hours before Herrmann's wife gave birth to a daughter

Herrmann tried to get Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform the splendidly neo-romantic piece but Ormandy wanted to slash 15 minutes out of the score...the great conductor had an unfortunate tendency to want such cuts in other works too.

Some reviews-

http://www.amazon.com/Herrmann-Symphony-Schuman-England-Triptych/dp/B000001SF8

Herrmann was a very fine conductor as well, a great anglophile and supporter of British composers like Richard Arnell(whilst the young
Arnell was living and working in New Yourk during the war).

I can only see it on Amazon where it is ridiculously expensive...