Search - Bernard Herrmann, Adriano, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) :: Hermann: Jane Eyre

Darkly Romantic Herrmann

Michael M. Wilk | Howard Beach, NY | 01/22/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To begin with, Bernard Herrmann is my favorite film composer. The man composed scores that ranged from the romantic (Jane Eyre, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Marnie), to the adventurous (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef), to the eerie (Vertigo, The Day the Earth Stood Still) to the downright terrifying (Psycho). That's no mean feat! Herrmann was an avid anglophile and romantic, so he seemed a natural choice to compose the score for Jane Eyre. The score is passionate, dark and brooding, sad and plaintive-all of the necessary ingredients for Cahrlotte Bronte's dark tale of an orphaned girl who goes from life with a cruel benefactress to a cruel girls' school, and becomes a governess to an illegitimate child in the gloomy household of a tormented man with a dark secret. This is one of my favorite Herrmann scores-very rich, romantic, almost traditional in its approach. There is also a lot of "heart" and pain in this score-it brings tears to my eyes whenever I listen to it. Marco Polo records have done it again-these folks have released a beautiful recording of the complete score to "Jane Eyre"-even the valse bluette from a music-box has been recreated here. If you are a Bernard Herrmann fan, a fan of "Jane Eyre", then I strongly recommend this CD-Just keep a box of tissues handy!"

Great early Bernard Herrman score

Robert Sutton | Woodland, CA USA | 08/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Until I obtained this CD I only knew the music of Jane Eyre from the the 13-minute suite that Bernard Herrmann arranged and recorded over 30 years ago. Hearing the complete score was a real treat and I was not disappointed. It's one of his better film scores. My only real complaints are that the recorded sound is tinny and sometimes odd-sounding and that the performance is second-rate. For Herrmann aficionados this should not be a problem considering the wildly varying levels of fidelity in commercial recordings of his music, especially music he himself conducted. If you like the music of Bernard Herrmann you will like this CD and perhaps you will treasure it as I do."