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

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Yes.  Bernie was known to have a very big mouth and I'm sure it frequently got him in trouble.

And it isn't as if he were somewhere he ought not to have expected mics to be live.

[relm1]

And it isn't as if he were somewhere he ought not to have expected mics to be live.

Did you hear the strange audio interview with him in 1970 (during his self imposed exile from Hollywood) http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2006/041006.html ?  You get a sense of a bizarre personality...a man child full of whiny tantrums and instability.  Meanwhile, he still had a lot of great music in him.  His then wife was so much younger then him and he must have been a real challenge to deal with.  Herrmann was 57 when he married his third wife, Norma Shepard who was three decades younger but far more mature!!

[Cato]

Did you like the opera? I had the Lp set for a while. I bought it from a market stall. It was ex Swansea Library,I believe;but in good condition. Later,I was shocked to see the prices for the s/h cds. The Unicorns are some of the ones affected by bronzing,though! I quite liked the opera. The bits for orchestra alone were very filmic,as one might expect. Quite enjoyable,though. But I can see (hear?) why it hasn't caught on. And not just because it's traditionally tonal.

Yes, it does have its moments: its emotional range would seem to be perfect for the composer of the Psycho score, but the latter is superior to the opera.  And so the question could be posed: is it possible Herrmann needed the visual element in some way?  Would he have done better if Wuthering Heights were a movie to be scored?

...then there's this, from 1935

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/bXXN9rCVadg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/bXXN9rCVadg</a>

Speaking of the composer of the Psycho score, no visual stimulus was needed for this masterpiece!

Did you hear the strange audio interview with him in 1970 (during his self imposed exile from Hollywood) http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2006/041006.html ?  You get a sense of a bizarre personality...a man child full of whiny tantrums and instability.  Meanwhile, he still had a lot of great music in him.  His then wife was so much younger then him and he must have been a real challenge to deal with.  Herrmann was 57 when he married his third wife, Norma Shepard who was three decades younger but far more mature!!

Thanks for the link!

When you go through three wives, it would seem that there must be something wrong with you...or you have severe problems in judging personalities...or maybe both!   If neither of those truly apply, I suppose it is possible that one could suffer some unusually bad luck.

The impression of instability and immaturity probably explains the marital problems.  Nevertheless, Herrmann undoubtedly had a great talent despite his quirks.

In the early 1970's, Brian de Palma wrote an article about Herrmann called Murder by Moog: he took Herrmann's advice on various things, although admits to being skeptical when Herrmann told him that - after seeing the opening of the movie - a musical idea using synthesizers had come to him.  Herrmann's fee was the largest part of the movie's budget!

The usual story about Torn Curtain is that Hitchcock came in and saw the highly idiosyncratic orchestra (e.g. 10 flutes) and fired Herrmann for obviously not acquiescing to the studio's "hit-song" demand.

[vandermolen]

I remember that during the old TV documentary Herrmann talked about meeting Charles Ives whom he idolised. He was conducting a work by Ives and asked the composer for some advice about a passage. Ives said 'just add in something of your own' showing a total lack of self-importance.

[Cato]

To start, the Vertigo score will forever stick with me, such a powerful score. Psycho? sure, North By Northwest, Taxi Driver, etc.

He's done some good Noirs too, overall a deserved film legend and a cool concert composer in his own right. I remember picking up one of his symphonies at one point and being thrilled how he carried over his epic, psychological, cinematic style to the symphony form.

Yep, I think that Vertigo score sticks in my mind even stronger than the movie itself (though I can't possibly forget it) 

Do you know the score for On Dangerous Ground ?

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/Fq1Uy2OZ1ug" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/Fq1Uy2OZ1ug</a>

The entire score - original soundtrack - is available in a Mono and semi-damaged state: it includes Herrmann talking with the orchestra.  The Noo Yawk accent is very thick indeed!

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51X9jvjmAxL._SL500_SY300_.jpg

[Cato]

I happened to see this anecdote on IMDB: from the information about Brian De Palma's Obsession

   

Composer Bernard Herrmann became infatuated with Geneviève Bujold after seeing her performance in an early cut of "Obsession". His feelings were heightened by Bujold's surprise visit to the soundtrack recording sessions in London in July 1975, the only time the two met in person. Herrmann's friend Charles Gerhardt recalled, "As she spoke to Benny in a heavy French accent I could tell he was about to get the hanky out. She told him of all the trouble she'd had with Cliff Robertson because he spent all his time in makeup and didn't make their love scenes meaningful. She said, 'Mr. Herrmann, he wouldn't make love to me - but you made love to me with your music'. And Benny started to cry. He would tell that story over and over at dinner, and start crying again every time". After Herrmann's death five months later, his widow found a photo of Bujold in his wallet.

:

[Cato]

This came across my screen today unexpectedly:






Here is the opening of the work - with links to other movements -  on You Tube:


<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/ob5SrjwvG9o&amp;list=OLAK5uy_kRVOZ5DYSAyRR9Lr-oLJLlBvfw4gUL25o" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/ob5SrjwvG9o&amp;list=OLAK5uy_kRVOZ5DYSAyRR9Lr-oLJLlBvfw4gUL25o</a>

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

most interesting.

[vandermolen]

I just received that disc. Hope to play it fully today.
Have been playing this as well:

[Cato]

This came across my screen today unexpectedly:






Here is the opening of the work - with links to other movements -  on You Tube:


<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/ob5SrjwvG9o&amp;list=OLAK5uy_kRVOZ5DYSAyRR9Lr-oLJLlBvfw4gUL25o" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/ob5SrjwvG9o&amp;list=OLAK5uy_kRVOZ5DYSAyRR9Lr-oLJLlBvfw4gUL25o</a>

Herrmann's Whitman has an "Americana" sound related to the Citizen Kane and The Devil and Daniel Webster scores.  The text uses Whitman poems, but is semi-wartime propaganda: it is spoken, not sung, not Schoenbergian Sprechgesang.  It has some compelling sections. 


The essay accompanying the CD said that there are a total of 21 such radio dramas for which Herrmann provided music.  It would have been nice to have more of those, rather than another version of his chamber work and of Psycho.  But perhaps the music is not extant, or the funds for reviving them were not available.

[Cato]

My brother tells me that today is Bernard Herrmann's birthday!

And there is a birthday present of sorts in the works: new recordings of the complete On Dangerous Ground, one of Herrmann's greatest achievements!

ANNOUNCEMENT : It's official ON DANGEROUS GROUND and THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH are the next re-recording projects from William Stromberg and Intrada via kick starter.
... Following on our continuing series of successful re-recordings of film music with Maestro William T. Stromberg on the podium and myself tapping him on the shoulder every time we want more French horns in bar 27, we’re readying the scores and parts to two incredible scores Herrmann scored in the fifties: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and (Nicholas Ray's ) On Dangerous Ground (1951). Only a brief portion of the Hitchcock score has been previously recorded,

On Dangerous Ground of course features the ferocious “Death Hunt” which we’ll be doing replete with eight horns, six trumpets and trombones and two tubas! In balance are the numerous lovely passages for solo viola d’amore and strings. All-in-all an incredible array of Herrmann music.

We’ll post the official Kickstarter goal and launch here in just a few days as we complete the session line-up requirements for this extraordinary recording event. We’ve got a nice track record with this series, thanks to the support from all of you!

This came via a FaceBook page from William Stromberg.

https://www.facebook.com/william.stromberg.96

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Zowie!

[Roy Bland]

[Cato]

Interesting conductor and orchestra!


Many thanks for the tip!

[Wanderer]

Vertigo excerpts from the Concertgebouw.

<a href="https://youtu.be/v/pnntZbaN_vk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://youtu.be/v/pnntZbaN_vk</a>

[Cato]

Vertigo excerpts from the Concertgebouw.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/pnntZbaN_vk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/pnntZbaN_vk</a>

Fixed it for you!

Excellent performance, but one expects excellence from the Concertgebouw Orchestra! 

[Wanderer]

Fixed it for you!

Excellent performance, but one expects excellence from the Concertgebouw Orchestra! 

Thank you, Cato! 😎

I wanted to share this because it struck me how excellently it is performed - the music being among my favourite film scores. I do hope there will be a recording issued out of this concert (which, seemingly, also included excerpts from Star Wars and Korngold’s The Sea Hawk, videos available at the Concertgebouw’s youtube channel).