Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(6 customer reviews) 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Classic, at reduced price,
August 14, 2006 Benjamin A. Opie - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bernard Herrmann: The Film Scores (Audio CD)
As much (if not more) than any other film composer, Bernard Herrmann's music stands up to listening independent of the films. The emphasis here is on Herrmann's scores for Hitchcock, when both men were arguably at their creative heights.
Note: this is NOT a collection of original soundtrack recordings. However, Salonen and the LA Philharmonic at absolutely top-notch, and the recording is beautiful. Certain subtleties are actually easier to hear on this recording than on some of the originals.
As if I couldn't recommend this highly enough, the price has been reduced on this reissue! This deserves a wide audience, don't hesitate to buy it.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Not your regular Herrmann,
June 29, 2008 Stuart Paine (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bernard Herrmann: The Film Scores (Audio CD)
Salonen is to be congratulated for having assembled an unusual and striking program here. Yes, he has some of the warhorses (VERTIGO, PSYCHO) and that's great, but this disc is more about these other things: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, TORN CURTAIN, FAHRENHEIT 451 and TAXI DRIVER. I particularly appreciate the long suite from FAHRENHEIT 451 (which should have received an Oscar nomination in 1966) and the generous set from TAXI DRIVER. The orchestra is dead-on with this music and Salonen is clearly into it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Not bad, but probably not quite what Bernard had in mind,
January 30, 2010 Paul F. Wilson "DocWilson" (Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Herrmann - The Film Scores (MP3 Download)
It's nice to have all these pieces together in one place, and for a reasonable price, and not a carbon copy of the originals, but there are a couple of problems. If one is familiar with the originals from either from having seen the films (the Hitchcock pieces) or owning the original soundtrack albums ("Taxi Driver"), or having heard Herrmann's own conducting of the suites on an out-of-print London/Phase IV release from 1970, then most of these are going to sound, well, a little . . . off. The sound mix is way heavy on the low end of the spectrum, and some of the pieces are simply played way too fast -- the "North by Northwest" theme and the "Taxi Driver" prelude, in particular. The "Psycho" suite is very well-interpreted musically, but again, if you're used to hearing the quality of the sound when it's played on TV (even with a good home theater setup) or particularly in a movie theater, then there's something overblown and a bit hollow about it.
