 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jan 20, 2007 - 10:44 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
|
Though they sound great, they are, mostly, dragged out and just not doing justive to the music. It almost sounds like Herrmann was trying to say "here, have an orchestra", stretching it so you get the different colors while at the same time at least for me ending up hard to listen to at such a slow speed.
But that's just me. I know many people here at least don't like his Psycho rerecording.
-Joshua
I agree that his Psycho re-recordings drag, but I otherwise love those Phase 4 albums. The recording quality and slower tempos create a hypnotic quality. I don't think of them as substitutes for the real thing, but an alternate way of hearing this music.
The LA Philharmonic album, mentioned earlier, is essential for having a very substanial suite of 451 music, longer than Herrmann's suite.
|
|
|
|
|
|
One of the worst suggestions I've heard here in a while. Those recordings are very, well, bad.
-Joshua
You are very, well, right. Great sound, lousy performances. Herrmann revisiting his own work was always disapointing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Herrmann phase 4 recordings are just wonderful (if you can find them), with the exception of "Jason & The Argoauts" which he takes far too slow; but then the Intrada compleat "Jason" is just about the best re-recording there is; of any score.
Broughton's take on JASON is excellent. I agree about the tempo on Phase 4's JASON, but their MYSTERIOUS ISLAND cues are equally off kilter, almost painful to listen to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Briefly, my favorite Herrmanns:
THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR - prefer the music tracks, released on Varese. Like the Bernstein re-recording, but I'm an original-tracks-kind-of-guy.
FAHRENHEIT 451 - One of my other all-time favorite Herrmann scores, currently in preparation for a complete re-recording, under the auspices of Messers. Morgan&Stromberg, who, in my opinion, do the best re-recordings; they always seem to get the sound just right, except that it has all the contemporary amplificication that they didn't have 60 years ago. (Also, interestingly, re:FAHRENHEIT: My favorite cue is "The Road/Finale," which in the actual film is divided into 2 separate cues, around a sequence of a little boy attempting to memorize Robert Louis Stevenson. On his "Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann," Herrmann combined the 2 cues into one continuous piece of music, which, again in my opinion, is superior to the way it's presented in the film. It's also, perhaps, one of my favorite film music moments EVER written!)
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (aka ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY): There has never been any kind of re-recording of this score, and this is the one that got Herrmann the only Oscar he ever won! He wasn't even nominated for any of the Hitchcock, let alone his scores for the fantasy films! DADW is better in many ways than either KANE or AMBERSONS, which I've always considered mostly pastiche scores, sounding more like something composed for radio dramas, which is what Herrmann and Welles did for years before they went into films. DADW, however, has some lovely extended cues, such as pastoral moments, or those other cues, for the sleigh ride, or the "danse macabre," where the man's soul is taken by Mr. Scratch and his demonic fiddle. I know that Morgan&Stromberg would love to re-record this score, but it is still a far-off idea more than anything else.
BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF: Those harps! Whoever would have thought of harps for a feeling of being underwater! But it works!
PRINCE OF PLAYERS - I always loved that main title, though the rest of the score seems more cut-and-paste. However, the tracks are still available on Varese.
ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM - Amazing score; always seemed to me that Herrmann wrote a Western-style score, then orchestrated it for Eastern-style instruments. Works for me. Original tracks still available on Varese.
VERTIGO - Well, I go for the original tracks, and Varese still has 'em. Go for it.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST - Original tracks still out on Rhino. (I saw that movie, the first time I went to a movie by myself; OK my father and my brother Roger were sitting in a different part of the theatre!, but I was by myself, at the Coraopolis Theatre. That was so long ago, I don't think the parking lot it later became is even still there!)
THE EGYPTIAN - I LOVE this score, though, personally, the most heartfelt moments came more from Newman, and Ken Darby, than Herrmann. Available in several recordings at present.
JANE EYRE - Little sister to GHOST AND MRS.MUIR. The tracks did come out on Fox, though I understand some people were dissatisfied. Some people are always dissatisfied.
Herrmann's OPERA, WUTHERING HEIGHTS - WONDERFUL score! To his dying day, Herrmann denied he used any of his film music in it, although, even with my tin ear, I can perceive whole cues from both JANE EYRE and GHOST AND MRS.MUIR. But there are other magnificent moments in it as well, too many to elucidate here. If you can find it, it's well worth the price. Magnificent piece, which Herrmann always regarded as his masterwork.
If I think of more, I'll add them later.
I agree totally with every observation you made here, John. Which just goes to show, vis- a-vis your comments on Herrmann's re-recording of FAHRENHEIT, I'm wrong in saying every thing Herrmann re-recorded of his work was disapointing. Just most of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You are very, well, right. Great sound, lousy performances. Herrmann revisiting his own work was always disapointing.
Lousy performances? Wow... They're not all 100% but I don't know if I could hang the lousy adjective on any of them but Jason and the Argonauts. The Fahrenheit 451 suite he recorded gives me goosebumps. I think it's the best recording of it out there so far. The intimate portions of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad are great as well... I love the slurs or whatever it is that the strings do. They don't do it like that anymore.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think Silva's essential herrmann coupled with the Gerhardt is a pretty damn good start.
Haven't got any of the Gerhardt versions, but I agree that the Silva compilation is excellent. That was what got me interested in Herrmann in the first place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sadly, Unicorn has shut down and its catalog, including all the Herrmann titles, is out of print.
And aren't these CDs concerned with "bronzing" by the way (my copy of PSYCHO surely is!) ?
More over :
- The MOBY DICK CD is HORRIBLE (the engineer should have kept a more attentive eye on his
VU- meters)
- The Clarinet Quintet & the String Quartet are (were?) available on Varese Sarabande (VSD-5559)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So, is it true that Gerhardt recorded a version of "King of the Khyber Rifles"? I was looking at getting the original from Varese, but then I have read some comments that the Gerhardt version is more complete. Of course, I cannot locate this recording to save my life right now.. 
A cue appears on the compilation album, along with THE THING (NEITHER had appeared on the previous releases in the series).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The analog mastered Unicorn-Kanchana CD is definitely the one to get. The stereo music-only track on the DVD is also superb, far surpassing the Rhino remastering of the original soundtrack.
It's Unicorn that used the single-mic digital master; as stated earlier, Varèse switched to the multi-miked analog master, giving the latterly-pressed discs far better sound than their earlier CDs, or the Unicorn, which sounds dreadful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The analog mastered Unicorn-Kanchana CD is definitely the one to get. The stereo music-only track on the DVD is also superb, far surpassing the Rhino remastering of the original soundtrack.
It's Unicorn that used the single-mic digital master; as stated earlier, Varèse switched to the multi-miked analog master, giving the latterly-pressed discs far better sound than their earlier CDs, or the Unicorn, which sounds dreadful.
Is there any way of telling which is which? i.e. Do you know if the catalog number is the same for both Varese editions?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
