# Bernard Herrmann



## TudorMihai

In addition to being a film score composer, the American composer Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) also wrote quite a large number of classical works before he began his film music journey and even after. His works include an opera (Wuthering Heights) and a symphony. In addition, at the time of his death he left an unfinished Violin Concerto. Here are a few of his works:

Souvenirs du Voyage (Clarinet Quintet)






His symphony, conducted by Herrmann himself






The Fantasticks for 4 voice solos, choir and orchestra


----------



## Weston

These are superb, but some of the orchestral suites made form his film scores seem to me to be every bit as engaging as other composers considered more academic. And why not? If it's good enough for Prokofiev, Vaughan-Williams and Shostakovich, film music is good enough for me. 

My favorite Hermann suites then are The Day the Earth Stood Still, and North By Northwest.


----------



## Prodromides

Have any of the TC members gotten the 20th Century Fox box released by Varese Sarabande?



















This was limited to 1,000 pressings and sold out during its pre-order process.
The original studio recording sessions for "The Day The Earth Stood Still" are but one of the 18 soundtracks by Bernard Herrmann issued onto 14 CDs.

I like Herrmann's scores for escapist adventures the most, such as "White Witch Doctor" and "Garden Of Evil". Herrmann used the medieval serpent on 3 tracks within "White Witch Doctor" and once again for the giant lizard in "Journey To The Center Of The Earth". Those are my 3 faves in this box.

Interestingly, Herrmann's music for adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald ("Tender Is The Night") and Ernest Hemingway ("Snows Of Kilimanjaro") are some of the scores of his that I dislike.


----------



## Sid James

I love his music. Two of my favourite scores by him are_ North by Northwest _and _Psycho_. As to his purely concert hall works, _Echoes for string quartet _is an amazing work, this contrapuntal weaving of a theme, transforming it in a series of amazing variations (similar in some ways to Britten's _Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge_). There's also _Concerto Macabre_ from Hangover Square which similarly has this kind of brooding, tense & psychological atmosphere typical of his work (its on the Naxos Warsaw Concerto cd below). What I like is his high level of craftsmanship, the directness of emotional expression and his rigorous working of themes through a work. He was unique.

















Australian Eloquence reissue label has also released these two double cd sets. They've been on my to get list for a while but I have not gotten them yet. So much of the Eloquence catalogue has amazing finds like this, we're spoilt for choice!


----------



## PetrB

Someone must mention the score to Hitchcock's "Vertigo."





Or those rather crazed scores where he knew he could have at his disposal, double or triple low reeds (Jason and the Argonauts 'Hydra's Teeth'_ or another surfeit / luxury of instrumentation, 10 or more harps (Coral Reef) That luxury afforded an opportunity of timbre and effect hardly any other successful composer could hope to practically ask for or expect -- studio paid for in an era pre multitracking or overdubbing, for the Coral Reef recording session, there were that many harps and harpists in the studio (theirr tuning up already a matter of interesting conjecture 

One of 'the best,' for certain. As well as so many other scores over so many years, he scored so many so well for Hitchcock that he is nearly synonymous with all of Hitchcock.


----------



## TudorMihai

PetrB said:


> Someone must mention the score to Hitchcock's "Vertigo."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or those rather crazed scores where he knew he could have at his disposal, double or triple low reeds (Jason and the Argonauts 'Hydra's Teeth'_ or another surfeit / luxury of instrumentation, 10 or more harps (Coral Reef) That luxury afforded an opportunity of timbre and effect hardly any other successful composer could hope to practically ask for or expect -- studio paid for in an era pre multitracking or overdubbing, for the Coral Reef recording session, there were that many harps and harpists in the studio (theirr tuning up already a matter of interesting conjecture
> 
> One of 'the best,' for certain. As well as so many other scores over so many years, he scored so many so well for Hitchcock that he is nearly synonymous with all of Hitchcock.


Indeed, he was one of the greatest; the first film score composer I've discovered. And he worked until the very end. His last score, Taxi Driver, is one of the best scores I've ever heard and one of my personal favorites. That sax solo against the jazzy film noir style instrumentation always gives me goosebumps.


----------



## Mahlerian

PetrB said:


> Or those rather crazed scores where he knew he could have at his disposal, double or triple low reeds (Jason and the Argonauts 'Hydra's Teeth'_ or another surfeit / luxury of instrumentation, 10 or more harps (Coral Reef) That luxury afforded an opportunity of timbre and effect hardly any other successful composer could hope to practically ask for or expect -- studio paid for in an era pre multitracking or overdubbing, for the Coral Reef recording session, there were that many harps and harpists in the studio (theirr tuning up already a matter of interesting conjecture


Alex North's scores also had unusual instrumentation. It was a different era for Hollywood. Now everything's become incredibly homogenized and more factory-made, and it's depressing.


----------



## Sid James

Re what you say PetrB about Herrmann having more musicians at his disposal than other film composers, they said on a doco that the reason why he and Hitch fell out was because Bernard kept asking for larger and larger orchestras. For one score, he wanted something like a dozen horns! But whatever clout Bernard had, and even if Hitch had agreed, the studios would be loathe to pay for what they saw as excessive. I also remember in that doco fellow film composer Elmer Bernstein saying Herrmann was one of the most imaginative film composers, doing unexpected things. He specifically mentioned that Spanish fandango theme which forms the centre of North by Northwest. Who would have thought that a fandango would have been just the right type of music for things like the struggle at the top of Mount Rushmore at the end of that film? Thats what I like about Herrmann, he turns these seemingly mundane ideas into something different - not much different from many of my fav 'straight' classical composers - and his music can be enjoyed independently of knowing the films they come from.


----------



## Bone

Thank you so much for posting the symphony!!!! The LA Phil album of Herrmann scores really turned me onto his music and I never have gotten around to exploring the art side of his craft. What a wonderful piece! I can't wait to get a recording

Update: okay, the ending might not be the best, but HOW is this symphony not better known??


----------



## TudorMihai

Three more pieces I've found:

Silent Noon, in my opinion the most beautiful piece he ever wrote






For the Fallen






Currier and Ives Suite


----------



## Guest

Benny Herrmann is a hero of mine and has been for decades. May I recommend an excellent book on the subject by Prof. Royal S. Brown, "Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music". Prof. Brown has a decent chapter (pp.148-175) on Bernard Herrmann. At times it is difficult reading, especially on the chapters about Korngold, Prokofiev and Rosza and one needs to be able to read music to follow because it's essentially an academic text. (Spoiler alert: some gobbledygook!). But it is also quite insightful, especially the discussion of unresolved dominant sevenths in the score for "Vertigo". (This is absolutely my favourite score by Benny, closely followed by "Psycho"). Brown repeatedly refers to a "Hitchcock chord" used by Benny Herrmann. Here's a tiny sample from the book: "The preludes for both films conclude on a D unison. The dreamier Vertigo prelude, marked Moderato assai, accompanies Saul Bass's dazzling succession of slowly turning, coloured, geometrical whorls that appear against a black background and that have their point of departure in a woman's eye"(p.161).

I'm presenting a 2 hour lecture later in the year for Music Appreciation on Bernard Herrmann and it will be a labour of love!

I noticed somebody has posted a picture of an album cover for "Warsaw Concerto". My mother used to play that on the piano when she worked as a nurse during the war years. There was a piano on the ward and the soldiers used to say to my mother, "Mary, play that Warsaw Concerto"!! She hated it like poison!!


----------



## Il_Penseroso

In addition to his film scores, I noticed his opera Wuthering Heights based on Emily Bronte's famous novel and I found it quite good.

Watch this video on youtube, Catherine Earnshaw's aria "I Have Dreamt":


----------



## Tapkaara

I am not exceedingly familiar with Herrmann, though I think his film music is good. He came from an era when film composers had a personality and didn't sound like everyone else.

I have a recording of his symphony. Like the recording I have of Furtwangler's First Symphony, after a few attempts, I haven't been able to finish it. Too sprawling.


----------



## Guest

Il_Penseroso said:


> In addition to his film scores, I noticed his opera Wuthering Heights based on Emily Bronte's famous novel and I found it quite good.
> 
> Watch this video on youtube, Catherine Earnshaw's aria "I Have Dreamt":


You've touched on something important here. Herrmann's more 'serious' music has not received a wide hearing. Some have criticized it as derivative. Like Korngold ("more korn than gold" as some critics have harshly observed) and, like it or not, because of his success in writing highly individual film music, his other work has been largely neglected. And he was an odious individual, by all accounts.


----------



## Arsakes

I need to discover more of his music. Taxi Driver and Vertigo soundtracks are very good.
Thanks OP for introducing his non-movie work.


----------



## Sid James

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> ... And he was an odious individual, by all accounts.


Given that, I here's an anecdote from a collection of them to do with famous conductors, a book by John Boyden titled Stick to the Music (publ. 1980's).
_
Bernard Herrmann, the American film music composer, had seen a good deal of the hard face of orchestral life during his years in the tough world of Hollywood. He had a Bronx accent and a voice like barbed wire. He was once rehearsing the London Symphony Orchestra in a recording. Soon after they began, he stopped the orchestra when it was in full spate. 
"Why didn't you play?" he demanded of the flutes and oboes. "Don't you wanna play wid us? Ain't we good enough for you?
Quick as a flash they came back at him, confident that the composer had misread his own score. "There's nothing for us to play," they exclaimed, pointing at the music.
"You're kidding," Herrmann replied. "Have another look."
The four players leaned forward and scrutinized the manuscript with increased intensity.
"Yes," muttered one of the squinting oboists grudgingly, "there is something here."
"So there is," agreed the other, adding with scorn as though all the rules of civilized behaviour were being ignored, "but it's written in pencil."
Herrmann sat relaxed on his high conductor's stool and raised his arms in a gesture of supplication.
"These guys. What do they expect?" he wondered out lout. "Neon lights?"_


----------



## Guest

Funny story, Sid. Thanks for that!!! I had a good laugh. Actually, it sounds like Jewish humour!!

BTW, Sid, you've got a cockatoo as your Avatar. I loathe those things - they fly in packs around our place and screech at 1,000db and drive everyone insane. So destructive too. Where's Alfred Hitchcock!!??:lol:


----------



## Sid James

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> Funny story, Sid. Thanks for that!!! I had a good laugh. Actually, it sounds like Jewish humour!!


Your welcome. That book is a gem. Quite slim but its got lots of illuminating & funny anecdotes like that about many big name musos and conductors from the old days. Herrmann though comes off lightly compared to Klemperer (supergrouch) and also Heifetz and Schnabel (bullies). But not all musos where hard to work with. Some of them come across as quite wierd & eccentric (eg. Beecham). But anyway they show the human side of these people, and the Herrmann anecdote is actually one of my favourites in the book.


----------



## bullz

Best Herrmann track in my opinion:

http://picosong.com/nqmq/

The Ghost and Mrs Muir
Andante Cantabile / Nocturne


----------

