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Posted: |
May 18, 2014 - 11:49 AM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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Varese Sarabande has issued 3 volumes of music from THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR between June 2011 and June 2012.
All of the 17 episodes for which Bernard Herrmann had written music have been released (from one source or another) onto volumes 1 & 2.
Volume 3 contains 1 disc devoted to scores by Lyn Murray while the other CD covers all the music provided by Leonard Rosenman and Lalo Schifrin for the series.
Due to lack of response and interest in this type of vintage material, each subsequent volume has had a decrease in the number of editions pressed. It seems unlikely that the remaining unreleased sound recordings by Lyn Murray and a few other composers will ever surface onto a future soundtrack.
I would now like to address these 3 volumes as a whole. There have been threads created here @ FSM on each individual volume released and folks have named some of their favorites here and there.
This older thread about AHH is being "bumped" so any interested parties can rank the episode soundtracks from all 3 volumes in their orders of preferences.
Herrmann has 17 segments; there are 4 by Murray; Rosenman has 2 while there's 1 apiece by Schifrin and Benny Carter. This makes a total of 25 titles in all - which can be easily divided into groups of 5 using a 5-star ranking order.
Here's my input, after many hours of listening, arranged from my most-loved down to the least resonant:
*****
1. BEAST IN VIEW (Leonard Rosenman)
2. LONELY PLACE (Lyn Murray) approximately 11 minutes
3. TRIUMPH (Murray)
4. TERROR AT NORTHFIELD (Bernard Herrmann)
5. THANATOS PALACE HOTEL (Murray)
****
6. CONSIDER HER WAYS (Herrmann) approx 11 min
7. A HOME AWAY FROM HOME (Herrmann)
8. ONE OF THE FAMILY (Rosenman) under 9 minutes!
9. THE McGREGOR AFFAIR (Herrmann)
10. MISADVENTURE (Herrmann) approx 11 min
*** (all Herrmann)
11. CHANGE OF ADDRESS
12. DEATH SCENE
13. THE LIFE WORK OF JUAN DIAZ
14. AN UNLOCKED WINDOW
15. WATER'S EDGE
** (all Herrmann)
16. WHERE THE WOODBINE TWINETH
17. THE JAR
18. BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR
19. YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME
20. NOTHING EVER HAPPENS IN LINVALE
*
21. BODY IN THE BARN (Herrmann)
22. WHO NEEDS AN ENEMY? (Murray)
23. MEMO FROM PURGATORY (Lalo Schifrin)
24. WALLY THE BEARD (Herrmann)
25. CRIMSON WITNESS (Benny Carter)
Speaking for myself, I detect some patterns from my listing in favorite order.
For one, the facet of Herrmann which appeals most to me occurs when Herrmann relies upon woodwind instruments (the 8 bassoons which conjure the TERROR AT NORTHFIELD, the MISADVENTURE with 4 clarinets, etc.) or percussion (the 4 harps & 2 vibraphones to CONSIDER HER WAYS) as the leading instrumental color for a narrative.
Secondly, Herrmann can be prone to employ (outmoded) waltz time signatures to communicate happiness, and to respond to anything from the past with sentimentality and/or nostalgia (this is not an approach to the material with which I agree).
Furthermore, Herrmann too often instructed brass instruments to play muted, which, to me, can make a score sound older than it actually is (this is one reason why I am not very keen on THE JAR).
In summary, my overall assessment on the music from AHH is that - dare I say it - Herrmann's musical temperaments were not necessarily in the best interests of these stories (despite the iconic Hitchcock & Herrmann collaborative relationship). To my ears, both Murray and Rosenman delivered underscores possessing more extended thematic developments with greater varieties in mood via contrasts and counterpoints. Compare Murray's Asiatic-flavored music for TRIUMPH (which could almost be a feature film score) with Herrmann's single-minded habanera & its all-pervasive insistence within THE LIFE WORK OF JUAN DIAZ.
Rosenman's ONE OF THE FAMILY has more fluctuations (in less than 9 minutes) with respect to its harmonic vocabulary than the entirety of Herrmann's LIFE WORK (just sayin'  ).
Still, Herrmann & Murray & Rosenman all offered well-crafted dramatic music & each of these men produced short scores having runtime durations less than a dozen minutes (as I've indicated in my above list).
Lalo Schifrin and Benny Carter, though, turn in pop-music styled scores of minimal dramatic interest. Half of Schifrin's "score" is source music be heard on radio or as jukebox junk. Even though it's for a MEMO FROM PURGATORY, the music is from a pop-music hell!
And ... the less said about Carter's old-school big-band offering, the better.
Any and all are welcome to post their thoughts, impressions, overall feedback, etc. about these TV soundtrack releases.
Do you have all 3 volumes or not? How would you arrange your favorites and/or rank these scores?
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Dear ToneRow,
I just came across your post above, and I can't help wondering why you were so dismissive of Benny Carter's contribution. Aside from being "old school" -- which is a negative term which could be similarly applied to any classic jazz, of which Carter was a master -- what did you find wrong with it? (Personally, I haven't listened to this album since it was first released, but I don't remember the Carter piece being objectionable.)
Thanks,
PNJ
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Hello Mr. Tone,
I guees that after nearly two years (still sealed), I should get around to listening to this one. Thanks for your listening guide Mr. Tone. It will be most useful.
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Anyone happen to have a cover scan of this that is at least 900 x 900? Oddly enough, I can't seem to find a decent-quality cover online, including Album Art Exchange. ScottH, where are you when I needja? 
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1500 x 1500 from Robert Townson's Facebook page (re-hosted):
Lordy, Josh, you da man! Thank you, thank you. I guess Facebook images don't show up in Google image searches. These are pristine, of course. Cheers again!
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