Bernard Herrmann is probably best known for his music for thrillers.
Psycho, without doubt his best known music for film, can
never be forgotten, even after one hearing - how much music in
all genres can boast that feat I wonder? It can easily be forgotten
that he wrote for music for all manner of film – drama, Citizen
Kane (1941), period piece, Anna and the King of Siam
(1946), supernatural drama, The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947)
(Herrmann’s, and my, favourite, score), quirky comedy, The
Trouble with Harry (1955), kitchen sink, The Man in the
Grey Flannel Suit (1956) and psychological, urban, drama,
Taxi Driver (1976) to name but a very few. Therefore, these
two examples of his music for film, and very different films they
are, should come as no surprise, and should be warmly welcomed.
The
Snows of Kilimanjaro is based on
a story by Ernest Hemingway. Harry Street - as far as I am concerned
played by a badly miscast Gregory Peck - lies dying in his tent
at the foot of the mountain and spends his time reminiscing,
in flashback, on his life and telling everything to his wife
(Susan Hayward). Whether the film is to your liking or not,
Herrmann’s music will be: it’s rich and romantic, this is music
of love, lost love, and yearning for love. A swirling prologue
is followed by a Nocturne of great beauty, then a very
nostalgic Memory Waltz. The music for the women in Harry’s
life is sumptuously scored, full of melody. Some said that Herrmann
could not write melody, let them hear this score and eat their
words. The cues for The Witch Doctor and The Death-Watch
are as eerie as anything Herrmann ever wrote.
Five
Fingers is based on a true story. During World War 2, in neutral Turkey, Ulysses
Diello - Code Name: Cicero – (a wonderful James Mason) is the
ambitious and highly resourceful valet to the British Ambassador.
He forms a plan to make himself a rich gentleman of leisure.
As his employer has many secret documents, he photographs them,
and, with the help of a refugee Countess, sells them to the
Nazis. When he has made a certain amount of cash, he will retire
to South America with the Countess as his wife. However, when
he arrives in Rio he discovers that the Nazis have paid him
in counterfeit currency. Herrmann’s score is, in general, dark
and brooding, full of atmosphere for time and place, containing
those strange sonorities he so loved, and is tinged with eastern
sounds.
This
is another fine addition to Naxos’s growing catalogue of Film
Music Classics. Stromberg brings strong and intelligent performances
from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and the sound is bright and
clear in the label’s best manner. The notes, by both Joseph Caporiccio
and Christopher Husted (Manager, Bernard Herrmann Music), are
outstanding but there is no information on what work John Morgan
had to do to bring these scores to recording. This latter is really
important and in previous issues has been a source of fascinating
material. But it’s the music we want and this is an outstanding
exposition of two fine examples of music for film, by a master
of the genre.
Bob Briggs
