バーナード・ハーマン: 歌劇《嵐が丘》からの組曲(ソプラノ、バリトンとオーケストラのための)、弦楽四重奏のための《エコー》(弦楽オーケストラ版)

ヒッチコック作品で知られる、
バーナード・ハーマン唯一のオペラ《嵐が丘》!

『めまい』『サイコ』『北北西に進路を取れ』といったヒッチコック作品や、『市民ケーン』『華氏451』などの映画音楽で知られるアメリカの作曲家、バーナード・ハーマン(1911-1975)が遺した唯一のオペラ《嵐が丘》。『ジェーン・エア』の映画音楽と同時期に作曲が進められ、1951年には完成していましたが、ハーマンの生前に完全な形で上演されることはありませんでした。《嵐が丘》にはハーマンの他の映画音楽からのさまざまな引用があり、また本作のテーマを後の映画音楽で再利用しているため、映画ファンには特に興味深い作品といえるでしょう。ここでは世界初録音となるハンス・セーアンセンによる組曲版を、ケリ・フュージ、ロデリック・ウィリアムズらの歌とマリオ・ヴェンツァーゴ指揮の素晴らしいオーケストラ・サウンドでお楽しみいただけます。ジョシュア・タン指揮、ハンス・セーアンセン編曲による弦楽オーケストラ版《エコー》にも注目です。
東京エムプラス

Many film composers wrote classical works in an idiom sharply different from that of their film scores, but with Bernard Herrmann, the difference is much smaller. Then again, his film music itself was more "classical" to begin with. His scores are largely devoid of the big themes and jazz and popular influences that marked the work of many of his contemporaries, especially later in his career. Instead, he built his scores out of obsessive gestures that were a perfect match for the films of Alfred Hitchcock, his most frequent collaborator. He wrote one opera, Wuthering Heights, that was completed in 1951 and, indeed, quoted some of his earlier scores and spawned passages in later ones. It is a gigantic work, filling four LPs when Herrmann recorded it in 1965, and this condensation and arrangement by Hans Sorensen is welcome. He strips the cast down to just Cathy and Heathcliff, with newcomer Keri Fuge and veteran Roderick Williams holding up well through overheated music that evokes Emily Brontes novel nicely. There is also an orchestral version, again arranged by Sorensen, of Herrmanns 1965 string quartet Echoes; the arrangement works fine inasmuch as his writing was quite orchestral-sounding in the original quartet. The Singapore Symphony, under conductor Mario Venzago in Wuthering Heights and Joshua Tan in Echoes, sounds fabulous, and Venzago was an inspired choice here, with a sure touch for dramatic music. Herrmann fans will be delighted with this, and listeners looking for a chance to sample his opera will find the album ideal. It landed on classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023, testifying to growing interest in Herrmanns music. ~ James Manheim