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.

Everyone appreciates Herrmann for his singular achievements as a film composer. Without him, there would be no Psycho, North by Northwest, or Vertigo, and Citizen Kane would be a far lesser film. But Herrmann also produced a substantial catalogue of concert works in the same style. He was as well a great figure in the forgotten history of radio. This new album is headlined by the world premiere recording of the newly restored score to the radio play Whitman.

The PostClassical Ensemble is well-known for their projects of restoring and re-recording full scores of classic films. The DVD release of Redes (2110372), featuring the score by Silvestre Revueltas, gained positive remarks for their ‘alert and passionate’ performance and summed up as a ‘powerful and unforgettable sequence’ by Soundstage! Xperience.