I'd like to recommend a new CD of film scores -- both to those who enjoy
good soundtrack music and others who haven't yet ventured there.  It's
66:27 minutes of Bernard Herrmann's music for 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro'
and '5 Fingers,' performed by the Moscow SO under William Stromberg.

Several items in this series have come my way, but few have made such
a strong impression as this Marco Polo CD (8.225168), containing much
restored material.  These are fairly complete scores, often quieter than
one might associate with Herrmann, though there's plenty that rings close
to the nail-biting urgency of his best work (Citizen Kane, Psycho, North by
Northwest, Vertigo, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Marnie, Farenheit
451, Taxi Driver, etc.).  Beyond being a master of the eerie and
unsettling, however, this disc shows Herrmann's flair for great melodies,
and instrumentation that's nothing if not inventive.  And, in terms of
being atmospheric, much in this CD approaches Rozsa's 'Providence.' In the
catalogue of Herrmann CDs, I'd rank this as close to his best.

Stromberg's conducting may not equal Herrmann's own sharp, crisp sound
at least for '5 Fingers,' which was in my library; he clearly lacks the
composer's delicious snarl and bite.  All the same, well worth having.
Strongly recommended.

BTW, the rumbustious piece for 4-hands piano played at the Contessa's
soiree must be someone else's composition (Rachmaninoff?), since it's not
on the CD.

'5 Fingers' is a fine film with a superb, real-life espionage plot, v good
script, and some of Mason's most sinister acting.  In glorious black and
white, as they say.  Not my first acquaintance, but how rewarding to
revisit this minor classic with an ear out for Herrmann's part in it.

Bert Bailey, in Ottawa