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Bernard Herrmann

I posted this the other day but took it down because I wanted to add some thoughts. I've been haunted recently by Bernard Herrmann. I go through this from time to time. It's a strange thing to devote a fair amount of one's energy to restoring and preserving another composer's work. I fell into Mr. Herrmann (I WON'T call him Benny! Those who didn't know him personally who call him Benny rub me the wrong way.) I fell into him because I didn't know all that much about him when Robert Townson asked me to conduct that first Seattle Symphony CD 13 years ago. I went out and learned and studied and realized that I was at the base of a very large mountain. I've been climbing bit-by-bit, edging towards understanding and innate familiarity ever since.

My most recent haunting comes while preparing for this summer's concert in Lyons, France of a repeat performance of the Hitchcock/Herrmann evening we did at Barbican Hall last year. I've been trying to tweak the program to make it even more compelling. In doing so, I rediscovered the Concerto Macabre, which Herrmann wrote for a film called Hangover Square. This film concerned a composer, who when he heard high pitch noises, went out on a killing spree. (I have a similar affliction with Hannah Montana) He winds up playing his concerto to his death while the theater burns around him. The concerto ends with the piano solo, orchestra long having fled, in somber, lonely chords. What a Herrmann classic. I just LOVE this piece. (Going to try and find a way to perform it this summer.)

But here’s the strange thing. It seemed so familiar on first hearing. Not because of repeated trademark licks or any such thing, but because after all of the albums and concerts I feel as if, to a VERY small degree, I get how his musical mind worked. I think I've come to understand (to an extent) how he thought about music. I listened to the original Vertigo recording last night, which Herrmann did NOT conduct, (Muir Matheson conducted because of a musician's strike) and I feel in my soul that it is all wrong. The tempi, the phrasing, the lack of infused passion in the playing are all so un-Herrmann. Pure conjecture on my part, I know, and I hope it isn't too presumptuous for me to say what Herrmann liked and didn't, but after so much time with my nose in his scores, can it be that some of his sensibilities have rubbed off? I don't know.

And here's the other thing: Stephen Sondheim, a hero of mine, wrote one of my favorite musicals ever, Sweeney Todd. I wrote a major analysis for my master's degree on this show. I recently came across an article where Sondheim said that Sweeney Todd was in a way based on Herrmann and this Hangover Square concerto, which he had heard when he was fifteen. Amazing. I didn't know why, but I felt the bond in Sondheim and Herrmann's music from day one.

http://website-archive.nt-online.org/platforms/stephensondheim2.html

Now, about our Varese re-recordings. I truly love BH's music, as so many of you do, and I feel it in my soul. I don't mean in any way to suggest I'm channeling him. Far from it. It's a constant challenge. But love or hate our recordings, you can be sure that the intention was always a recording that was a home run. Yup, we completely fell short many times. Some times through my own inability to get the performance I wanted in the time allotted. Some times through no fault of our own. I remember the cab ride back to the hotel in London after finishing Torn Curtain. I was in complete despair. Abbey Road wasn't available and we had to go out to Watford to a town hall to record in. There was no other suitable recording venue. The floors were sticky from beer spilled the night before at a dance. The hall turned out to be much too live for this instrumentation and the recording suffered greatly, in a way that we couldn't mix out. Should this matter? I don't know. But the fact these CDs EXIST is a miracle and that miracle is named Robert Townson. These recordings are truly an altruistic effort on his and Varese's part. We all are doing them for the love only. I will describe at a later date, the flurry of battle and triage that is a re-recording session. It is always about doing the best you can under incredibly demanding circumstances. There is NEVER enough time. Most of the time we are just trying to get it all recorded. It's always amazing to me how many take offense at a variant tempo or sound quality. Imagine committing to memory over an hour's worth of music and then trying to reproduce an exact tempo match from the film on some 30 cues in a score while recording an entire album in 6 hours. Sometimes I have to let go and look at his very specific tempo markings and just let the music fly. At times like these the tempi might differ wildly from the film. However I know from experience that so many non-musical things can happen in a film session to affect the tempo (re-editing, director wanting more pace, less pace) that sometimes the very classical and specific tempo indications were not what wound up in the film at all. How does one reconcile a cue Herrmann marked 'Lentissimo" (extremely slow) that he conducted "Andantino" (a nice walking clip?) What happened at the session to change this? It then becomes a very subjective detective game. Sometimes, as a conductor, the film recording is the 'urtext', to be as best as one can, slavishly matched, but other times not. It's very specific to the music. And always, trying to serve the composer's intent, even if at times, that just means giving it up and going by instinct.

Comments (616)

Thanks alot for reposting this. For instance on a re-recording I believe you conducted of Goldsmith's Main title to Star Trek-Voyager I LOVE the slower tempo. It just feels way more natural. And I'm pretty sure the original is the tempo it is, just so that it fit in the time allocated.


Jim:

This was a fascinating post. Herrmann and Sondheim are both heroes of mine as well. It was really interesting, too, to read your comments about Robert Townson. He is surely responsible for more cds in my collection than any other producer. I look forward to more blog entries on the forthcoming Lyons concert.

Jim

David from France:

It was such a pleasure to see your comments on Herrmann back on the web. Your work and devotion to this great maestro is just wonderful, and never mind the ungrateful fan(atic)s ! I wish to read more of your passion for music and those who make it !

Ready to listen to your concert in Lyon this summer !!!

David

Mike:

Thank you for this insight into your process! I love your Herrmann rerecordings, and for what it's worth, very much enjoy the "Torn Curtain" CD. In fact, this was a score that left me cold in the Bernstein-conducted version. Okay, the sonics of your recording aren't ideal, but I really did "get" this score much more as a work of passion from the Herrmann I love. So maybe you were channeling him!

Just yesterday, by the way, I was listening to your recording of one of my all-time favorite scores, Waxman's "Sunset Blvd." Great, great stuff. How did interpreting Waxman compare to Herrmann?

Greta Brannan:

Thanks for this intriguing peek behind the scenes! It's invaluable to hear how a remarkable interpreter learns to live another composer's music. For me, you are the conductor who most "gets" Herrmann's writing.

The hard work and dedication you and the Varese team give shows in spades - for film music lovers each recording is a treasure. Never mind the imperfect sound, Herrmann's music speaks for itself.

The real heroes in this team are also the fine players of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, whose capacity to learn and execute these difficult scores seems neverending. It's stunning how they achieve these performances in a matter of days! What has your experience and partnership been like working with this fantastic orchestra?

Joel McNeely:

Greta is absolutely right. The RSNO players are brilliant. We've had many magnificent hours in the studio together (and in the pub!)

The weak dollar (and filesharing) has made it really hard to go back there now. So, write your congressman, and always purchase your music so we can keep these things coming!

Justin:

Concerto Macabre is probably my personal favorite peice by Herrmann as well (though the title to White Witch Doctor comes close). Its one of the few peices of music which I purposely try to find new recordings of.

I wish I had the good fortune of finding the movie, as I've never seen it, sadly.

Joel McNeely:

Hangover Square video isn't available right now. I've looked. However an English director is doing a remake of it!

Steve Rivkin:

Dear Mr McNeely my thanks for all your work and effort and my hope for more future Herrmann projects. I am no expert but I do know some of Herrmann's comments about tempo and his music from his lectures and interveiws, that may be of interest. In short, he sometimes found it necessary to speed up the tempo from the written music to match the action and pace of the film. He would often play his movie compositions when performing in concert at slower tempo's which he is said to have preferred and may have orginally envisioned. Sometimes he was asked why did the music concert sound different than the movie music? Herrmann also states in lectures, every recording is unique - with certain players, a certain recording place, mood and energy etc. - anyway he seemed to feel many factors make each recording unique and he could not see trying to create a duplicate of something done - that will always be a reflection of various factors at a certain place and time. Slower tempo he also said required more control on the part of the conductor.
He said separating music from the film from which it was intended was an artifical thing. Some of all this are his justifications for doing things differently and not trying to create an identical recording or concert, something he felt was a bit silly and fruitless task. He much rather attack each performance with a new energy, a new vision and present a new unique performance. All this is condensed of course and I accept any blame for misinterpetation or errors.

Thanks, Steve Rivkin - a great nephew of Bernard Herrmann

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