Bernard Herrmann: Psycho Suite

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Across all three works, the Tippett Quartet lucidly communicates Herrmann's themes of mystery and paranoia. The drama created owes much to its intimate set-up - it's hard to imagine any orchestra... — Classic FM Magazine, May 2011, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 10th Jan 2011
Catalogue No: SIGCD234
Label: Signum
Length: 56 minutes

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Herrmann, B: Echoes for String Quartet

Work length19:04

Tippett Quartet

Herrmann, B: Souvenirs de Voyage, for clarinet quintet

Work length28:00

Tippett Quartet, Julian Bliss

I Lento (Molto tranquilo)

Track length12:46

II Andante (Berceuse)

Track length7:08

III Andantino (Canto amoroso)

Track length8:06

Bernard Herrmann, arr. Richard Birchall: Psycho Suite, for string quartet

Work length9:51

Tippett Quartet

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Bernard Herrmann was perhaps one of the greatest musical all-rounders of the 20th Century. Although he is best known for his film scores to perhaps some of the most iconic films ever made (Vertigo, Citizen Kane, Psycho), he was also a talented composer for the concert hall, with an early career marked out by his skill as a conductor, praised by Stravinsky amongst others, who autographed Hermann’s score for his Symphony in 3 Movements with “To the excellent musician and conductor, Bernard Herrmann. Cordially, I. Stravinsky.”

The Tippett Quartet capture the energy and musical finesse of Herrmann’s works in this recording, accompanied for Souvenirs de Voyage by the clarinetist Julian Bliss and featuring a new arrangement of his score for ‘Psycho’.

Reviews

May 2011

Across all three works, the Tippett Quartet lucidly communicates Herrmann's themes of mystery and paranoia. The drama created owes much to its intimate set-up - it's hard to imagine any orchestra evoking a more intense, menacing atmosphere.

23rd January 2011

What characterises the other two pieces — the single-movement Echoes (1965), for string quartet, and the three-movement Souvenirs de Voyage (1967), for clarinet quintet — is their organic quality. Herrmann uses motifs to build structures in much the same way as Brahms.

21st January 2011

The brooding "Echoes" is especially interesting: it features many of the same jolting musical strategies that marked his movie scores, conjuring the kind of dark images of which his greatest patron [Hitchcock] would have undoubtedly approved.

29th January 2011

In between film assignments in the 1960s, Herrmann assuaged some of his private and professional pains by composing Echoes and Souvenirs de Voyage — chamber pieces resurrected by the Tippett Quartet and the fine 21-year-old clarinettist Julian Bliss...the warmly resonant recording only adds to the CD’s thrills.

The Independent on Sunday 30th January 2011

the "Psycho Suite" is only the coda to a disc that otherwise focuses on the lyrical abstractions of Herrmann's European-influenced "Echoes", and the extended "Souvenirs de Voyage"...Clarinettist Julian Bliss plays with exquisite restraint, as though wanting not to disturb the intimate conversations of the Tippett Quartet.

Bernard Herrmann: Psycho Suite

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