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Bernard Herrmann is widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s most important composers, responsible for more than fifty film scores (in addition to his work for TV, radio, and the concert hall), and noted for his collaborations with Orson Welles and, later, with Alfred Hitchcock. Welles was unofficially involved with Robert Stevenson’s film of Jane Eyre in the 1940s, and it was Welles that suggested Herrmann as composer for the project. Herrmann became obsessed with all things Brontë, and within months was writing to friends of his plans to write an opera on Wuthering Heights. It took him eight years to complete the vocal score, using a libretto written by his wife, Lucille Fletcher. Although he conducted a recording of the work, in 1966, he failed to see a live production in his lifetime. Although the opera features eight solo roles, Cathy and Heathcliff dominate the action and are the only singers in Hans Sørensen’s Suite of excerpts – recorded here for the very first time. Keri Fuge and Roderick Williams take the vocal roles in this recording. Echoes was composed in 1965 for string quartet, and was later arranged for string orchestra by Hans Sørensen – the version heard on this album. The recording was made in the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore in Surround Sound, and is available as a Hybrid SACD and in Spatial Audio. Reviews BBC Music Magazine September 2023 “Through their two voices – a radiant Keri Fuge and a towering Roderick Williams – we’re drawn immediately into their intense love-affair…This snapshot, stunningly recorded, serves as a tantalising example of what it might be to go on Herrmann’s entire emotionally wrought journey. – 5 out of 5 stars Gramophone Magazine August 2023 “Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights is unlikely to be recorded complete again, still less staged, so this recording fills an important part in Herrmann’s discography, with a soundscape attuned to the terrain from which it springs. Presto Music 30th June 2023 “Herrmann is known as a highly inventive orchestrator, and Sørensen thankfully leaves the original instrumentation intact: the angst-ridden opening for timpani, snarling brass and restless piccolo perfectly conjures the dark and stormy expanse of the Yorkshire moors, vividly and colourfully performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under conductor Mario Venzago…the score is littered with many beautiful moments as ravishing as anything you might find in any Puccini opera. – 4 from 5 stars James Longstaffe Sunday Times 16th July 2023 |
