Herrmann: Symphony No. 1; Suite: Devil & Daniel Webster; Concerto Macabre; For the Fallen - James Sedares, Phoenix Symphony, New Zealand S.O, Sara Davis Buechner

Alto Records returns to international availability – for download and streaming – acclaimed recordings of concert works by Bernard Herrmann, music that is simultaneously sophisticated in structure and immediately appealing.

-Gramophone

“Like Korngold, Herrmann was a consummate movie composer: his only Symphony -inventive, soundly constructed, always eventful and excitingly scored – successfully taps a harmonically tangy, neoromantic vein reminiscent of Barber at his best … The Devil & Daniel Webster (Suite) was assembled shortly after the film’s score won its Oscar … Herrmann treats several New England folk-tunes to his own special brand of orchestral wizardry. The score is both a gentle, sepia-tinted portrait of rustic Americana and a wickedly endearing account of Mr Scratch’s devilish interventions … the 1943 berceuse For the Fallen, is a brief, but poignant lament for the soldiers killed in action … James Sedares and the NZSO are on top form throughout this valuable addition to Koch’s concert works by acclaimed film composers” (Gramophone)

Symphony No.1 [36:00]
[1]   Maestoso – Allegro 13.52
[2]   Scherzo 5.56
[3]   Andante sostenuto 8.42
[4]   Rondo – Finale 7.29
 
[5] Concerto Macabre for piano & orchestra 10:55
 from the film “Hangover Square”
Sara Davis Buechner (piano)
 
[6] For the Fallen – a Berceuse 6.51
 
Suite: The Devil and Daniel Webster [20:04]
[7]  Mr Scratch 5.29
[8]  Ballad of Springfield Mountain 4.36
[9]   Sleighride 1.58
[10] The Miser’s Waltz 5.22
[11] Swing Your Partners 2.37