Herrmann: Whitman (Radio Drama by Norman Corwin)

$9.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
October 9, 2020
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      HERRMANN, BERNARD
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Postclassical Ensemble
    • PERFORMER
      Gil-Ordonez
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      October 09, 2020
    • UPC
      636943988329
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8559883
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. Introduction: I, Walt Whitman, heard that you asked for something to prove this puzzle the New World (Whitman)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    2. Welcome: You! Whoever you are! (Whitman)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    3. Perpetual Journey: I tramp a perpetual journey (Whitman)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    4. Listen: Listen: when the psalm sings instead of the singer (Whitman, Stranger, Cynic)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp, Murray Horwitz

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    5. Cosmos: A cosmos, of Manhattan, the son! (Whitman, Stranger)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp, Murray Horwitz

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    6. Song: A simple separate person (Whitman, Cynic)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp, Murray Horwitz

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    7. Oath: I celebrate myself, and sing myself (Whitman, Child)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp, Annasophia Nicely

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    8. Miracles: I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars (Whitman, Child)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp, Annasophia Nicely

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    9. Battle: Of life immense in passion, pulse and power, I sing (Whitman)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    10. War: I will acknowledge contemporary lands (Whitman, Radio Voice)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp, Murray Horwitz

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    11. Ships: Flaunt out, O sea, your separate flags of nations! (Whitman)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    12. Divinity: Listener out there! (Whitman)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    13. Finale: I see not America only (Whitman)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Performer: William Sharp

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez

    14. I. Lento: Molto tranquillo

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Performer: David Jones, Netanel Draiblate, Eva Cappelletti-Chao, Philippe Chao, Benjamin Capps

    15. II. Berceuse: Andante

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Performer: David Jones, Netanel Draiblate, Eva Cappelletti-Chao, Philippe Chao, Benjamin Capps

    16. III. Andantino: Canto amoroso

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Performer: David Jones, Netanel Draiblate, Eva Cappelletti-Chao, Philippe Chao, Benjamin Capps

    17. Psycho: A Narrative for String Orchestra (reconstructed by J. Mauceri for string orchestra)

      Composer: Bernard Herrmann

      Ensemble: PostClassical Ensemble

      Conductor: Angel Gil-Ordóñez


Bernard Herrmann was famous for his film scores, but he was also a leading figure in music for radio, to which he brought his inimitable palette of mood and sonority. Whitman, whose subject is Walt Whitman’s collection of poems Leaves of Grass, was a 1944 radio drama, a genre now much neglected but revived in this newly restored version. Psycho: A Narrative for String Orchestra is not a suite or excerpts from the film but a concert work, re-ordered and re-composed, while Souvenirs de voyage is one of the most polished and seductive of all American chamber works.

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REVIEWS:

Gil-Ordóñez and the PostClassical Ensemble have plenty of experience with Herrmann and perform the music with the proper heated quality. The result is an album that will be essential for Herrmann fans but also of great interest to general listeners.

– AllMusic Guide

With a narrator as Whitman, and a chamber sized orchestra to add impact and color, these many years after the end of the WWII (around the time of its original broadcast), it still carries a profound message. Souvenirs de voyage came towards the end of Herrmann’s life, and was proof of his range of genres that today are overlooked in favor of his film scores. It is a beautiful score, blessed with attractive melodic material and couched in subtle colors. Herrmann was to re-compose music from Psycho years later to form a concert work. It was rediscovered by conductor John Mauceri in 1999.

It would be difficult to imagine finer performances from a number of performers, Whitman, being a World Premiere Recording with the conductor, Angel Gil-Ordonez and the Washington-based PostClassical Ensemble, William Sharp the ideal narrator. Top quality sound, and It comes with an excellent booklet.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)