Post Description

New recordings of the film music of Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) have been sprouting like dandelions in recent years, as exposure on home video and various cable channels has raised the profile of film scores among casual viewers to its highest level ever and stimulated new interest in the whole field. And what more logical orchestra to record Herrmann's music than the Los Angeles Philharmonic (under conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen), which represents the high-culture side of music immediately adjacent to Hollywood? This album opens with what is probably the most straightforward and disposable piece of music that Herrmann ever wrote for Alfred Hitchcock, the prelude from The Man Who Knew Too Much, which makes a kind of bite-sized appetizer for what follows: "Psycho - A Suite for Strings," 11 short movements played about as tautly as they have ever been presented, right down to the screechy murder-sequence music; the gloriously romantic prelude and hunt music from Marnie; the loony overture for North by Northwest; a three-movement suite from Vertigo's lush score; and just under seven minutes of Herrmann's unused music from Torn Curtain. The CD also contains a 20-minute suite derived from the score of Fahrenheit 451, and seven minutes of the last score that Herrmann ever wrote, from Taxi Driver. The results are impressive -- though it should be pointed out that Herrmann himself made good recordings of virtually all the music on this album for Decca/London during the 1960s, several with more prestigious orchestras -- with finely wrought playing throughout. The orchestra's cohesiveness comes into play in the quiet passages of the "Psycho" suite, where Salonen gets the bass and cello sections playing like single instruments. The sequencing is also very sensible, shifting the moods carefully for the listener so that a sense of variation is maintained. This album also has the distinction of being the first collection of Herrmann's music to appear on Super Audio CD -- a format that was made for music of this scope and range, bringing the bowing of the strings and the surge of the percussion, as well as the horn calls on "The Hunt" from Marnie, right into the listener's own room. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi 

foobar2000 1.1.7 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2012-06-04 13:33:46
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Analyzed: Esa-Pekka Salonen / Los Angeles Philharmonic / Bernard Herrmann: The Film Scores
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR13 -0.21 dB -17.10 dB 2:42 01-The Man Who Knew To Much - Prelude
DR13 -7.75 dB -24.64 dB 2:04 02-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - Prelude
DR15 -10.20 dB -32.50 dB 1:44 03-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The City
DR12 -8.35 dB -24.81 dB 1:25 04-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Rainstorm
DR13 -11.95 dB -34.72 dB 2:36 05-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Madhouse
DR13 -6.82 dB -22.88 dB 1:01 06-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Murder
DR13 -11.49 dB -29.66 dB 1:11 07-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Water
DR11 -14.43 dB -31.99 dB 2:28 08-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Swamp
DR11 -18.22 dB -38.83 dB 1:32 09-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Stairs
DR11 -8.69 dB -23.54 dB 0:28 10-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Knife
DR14 -9.26 dB -30.96 dB 1:16 11-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - The Cellar
DR12 -10.30 dB -30.41 dB 1:57 12-Psycho - A Suite For Strings - Finale
DR11 -6.09 dB -21.85 dB 5:13 13-Marnie-Suite - I.Prelude
DR12 -3.96 dB -21.13 dB 5:45 14-Marnie-Suite - II.The Hunt
DR15 -0.96 dB -20.52 dB 2:46 15-Noth By Northwest - Overture
DR12 -4.12 dB -22.67 dB 2:58 16-Vertigo-Suite - I.Prelude
DR11 -5.66 dB -22.64 dB 2:08 17-Vertigo-Suite - II.The Nightmare
DR13 -7.05 dB -26.52 dB 6:49 18-Vertigo-Suite - III.Scene D'Amour
DR13 -1.07 dB -16.99 dB 2:17 19-Torn Curtain - I.Prelude
DR10 -24.87 dB -39.17 dB 1:54 20-Torn Curtain - II.Gromek
DR12 -2.16 dB -19.85 dB 2:16 21-Torn Curtain - III.The Killing
DR12 -17.68 dB -34.35 dB 1:32 22-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - relude
DR12 -7.48 dB -21.95 dB 1:01 23-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - Fire Engine
DR11 -10.18 dB -24.77 dB 1:38 24-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - The Bedroom
DR11 -20.76 dB -36.78 dB 2:04 25-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - The Reading
DR11 -17.83 dB -33.06 dB 1:26 26-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - The Garden
DR11 -5.90 dB -25.57 dB 1:51 27-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - The Nightmare
DR12 -10.53 dB -24.82 dB 1:43 28-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - Flowers of Fire
DR10 -7.64 dB -21.60 dB 0:37 29-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - Flamethrower
DR11 -6.88 dB -20.94 dB 1:00 30-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - The Captain's Death
DR11 -19.09 dB -34.47 dB 2:14 31-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - The Road
DR12 -11.69 dB -29.96 dB 2:25 32-Fahrenheit 451 - Suite For Strings, Harps & Percussion - Finale
DR14 -2.73 dB -23.10 dB 0:54 33-Taxi Driver-A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Saxophone - Prelude
DR12 -13.00 dB -29.30 dB 3:10 34-Taxi Driver-A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Saxophone - Blues
DR11 -8.52 dB -25.27 dB 0:29 35-Taxi Driver-A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Saxophone - Night Prowl
DR13 -0.01 dB -17.60 dB 1:26 36-Taxi Driver-A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Saxophone - Bloodbath
DR12 -0.34 dB -21.12 dB 0:45 37-Taxi Driver-A Night-Piece For Orchestra With Obbligato Alto Saxophone - Finale
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Number of tracks: 37
Official DR value: DR12
Samplerate: 88200 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 2289 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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