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Hitchcock, 100 Years: A Bernard Herrmann Film Score Tribute:
(Compilation) No director has been the subject of as many film music
compilations as Alfred Hitchcock, partly due to his famous collaboration
with Bernard Herrmann during the later and more memorable series of
suspense and horror films that reached their height in the 1960's. The
shelves of record stores were overflowing with albums offering the music
of Alfred Hitchcock films in 1999, mostly because they intended to
celebrate the centenary of the director's birth. Of all the Hitchcock
compilations that hit the shelves of stores during that year, this Milan
Records product was constructed from the most intriguing concept. While
Silva Screen and Universal (through their relatively new Hip-O Records
label at the time) had released superior compilations of original and
re-recorded music from the famed director's film scores, Milan had the
idea of taking a series of re-recordings of Herrmann's music alone and
arranging them in an educational format highlighted by verbal commentary
from the composer himself. For the source of the music, Milan would turn
to a collection of re-recordings performed by the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra and conducted by Elmer Bernstein. These performances were
recorded back in 1992 and have been floating around on CD previously. In
fact, Bernstein's recording of
The Wrong Box was featured on the
Hip-O release of Hitchcock music only a month earlier. The quality of
the sound for these recording is crisp, and the performances are above
average. Bernstein ranks with Joel McNeely in the ability to conduct
Herrmann's music accurately; he had just adapted the entire score for
the remake of
Cape Fear just a year prior. As presented on
"Hitchcock, 100 Years: Bernard Herrmann Tribute," though, there is
actually not that much Herrmann material on this release (only about 27
minutes total). That which is included is the standard selection of cues
that most film music collectors have heard on countless other
compilations.
The suite from
Psycho contains all the memorable
cues, and the "Scene d'Amour" cue from
Vertigo is the necessary
inclusion. One of the intriguing parts of Bernstein's interpretation of
"Scene d'Amour" is his revised pacing, both increasing and decreasing
the tempo in parts that alter the emotional impact of the cue. Timpani
and bass strings are both mixed well, with woodwinds existing perhaps
further in the forefront than necessary. The choice of music from
The
Man Who Knew Too Much is a pleasant surprise on this album. The
"Cantata/The Storm Clouds" cue represents an absolutely crucial scene in
the film, and while it is not written by Herrmann, the choral/operatic
suite is a vital accompaniment to the suspenseful action in the film.
The sinister and epic brass prelude from
North by Northwest is
performed very well here.
The Wrong Man doesn't really fit on the
album, as it is much more comical than the other tracks. The final music
track is completely out of place; it's an electronic re-mix of the first
murder scene cue from
Psycho and surprisingly has nothing to do
with the re-make of the film that featured a Danny Elfman adaptation.
This 1999 arrangement by Joseph Bishara is a synthetic mutilation of
Herrmann's famous cue with awkward sampling used as sound effects.
Ultimately, what makes this album an interesting listen are the four
excerpts from an audio interview with Herrmann in the early 1970's. They
are about 5 minutes in total length, and a few of them are particularly
interesting. The response concerning why a complaint about music in film
and TV "is rubbish" is most entertaining. Herrmann's insights into film
music are surprisingly similar to John Williams,' who considered
Herrmann an important mentor at the time. Overall, this album's very
short length is its main detractor. A few more selections and wider
variety would have greatly benefited the product. As it stands, there is
only music from four Herrmann scores represented here, and tracks from
Torn Curtain or
Trouble with Harry (or the actual score
from
The Man Who Knew Too Much) would have been welcomed. Some
people might object to hearing Herrmann speaking every third track, but
these tracks are ironically the highlights of the album.
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The insert contains a short note about the music and production of album. The
packaging is very poorly designed, with text that is extremely difficult to read. Nowhere
on the exterior of the product is it revealed that the music on the compilation is
re-recorded, which is an unacceptably deceptive blunder.
