Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Mario Venzago, Keri Fuge, Roderick Williams, Joshua Tan – Herrmann: Suite from Wuthering Heights, Echoes for Strings (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Mario Venzago, Keri Fuge, Roderick Williams, Joshua Tan – Herrmann: Suite from Wuthering Heights, Echoes for Strings (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:20:41 minutes | 1,38 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos

Bernard Herrmann is considered one of Hollywood’s most important composers, creating more than 50 film scores, and is especially known for his congenial collaborations with Orson Welles and later Alfred Hitchcock. But Herrmann also created regular classical works: presented here for the first time is Hans Sorensen’s Suite with excerpts from Herrmann’s opera Wuthering Heights. Echoes, also presented here, was composed in 1965 for string quartet and later arranged by Sorensen for string orchestra – the version heard on this album.

Tracklist:
1-01. Roderick Williams – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen): I. Prologue. The Snow and Wind – Oh, Cathy! Come in. Oh, come in (06:54)
1-02. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 1 Scene 1: II. I have been wandering through the green woods (08:14)
1-03. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 1 Scene 1: III. Do you remember the day you first came to Wuthering Heights! (03:21)
1-04. Roderick Williams – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 1 Scene 1: IV. On the moors, on the moors (05:23)
1-05. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 1 Scene 1: V. Look, the moon (02:55)
1-06. Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen): VI. Interlude (Nocturne) (03:09)
1-07. Roderick Williams – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 1 Scene 2: VII. I am the only being, whose doom no tongue would ask (03:35)
1-08. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 2: VIII. I have dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me for ever (02:41)
1-09. Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: IX. Meditation (02:21)
1-10. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: X. Heathcliff. Heathcliff (03:21)
1-11. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XI. Will you say so, Heathcliff! (03:41)
1-12. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XII. Open the window. Let me breathe the wind (02:31)
1-13. Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XIII. Death of Cathy – I shall not leave you, you are my soul (02:07)
1-14. Roderick Williams – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XIX. Largo assai (00:51)
1-15. Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XV. May she wake in torment! (01:36)
1-16. Keri Fuge – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XVI. Lento (01:07)
1-17. Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XVII. Heathcliff! Heathcliff! Let me in (00:58)
1-18. Roderick Williams – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XVIII. Oh, Cathy! Come in, oh come in! (04:00)
1-19. Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Suite from “Wuthering Heights” (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen), Act 4: XIX. Adagio tenebroso (01:24)
1-20. Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Echoes (Arr. for Soprano, Baritone, and Orchestra by Hans Sørensen) (20:22)

Personnel:
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 Sørensen 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 Brontë’s novel nicely. There is also an orchestral version, again arranged by Sørensen, of Herrmann’s 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 Herrmann’s music. – James Manheim

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