Herrmann: Suite from Wuthering Heights album review — smouldering passion

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The name of Bernard Herrmann hardly needs an introduction. From Citizen Kane to Taxi Driver, via classic Hitchcock movies such as Psycho and Vertigo, Herrmann was responsible for some of the most enduring Hollywood film scores of the 20th century.

Less well known is that, between 1943 and 1951, he also composed an opera, Wuthering Heights, based on Emily Brontë’s novel. Herrmann struggled to get it staged in his lifetime and it was not a success when it was put on after his death. There have been just a couple of productions since.

Wuthering Heights has fared better in recordings, including a complete recording with the imprimatur of Herrmann himself as conductor. This single disc offers an hour of the music in a suite made by Hans Sørensen, focusing exclusively on Cathy and Heathcliff, well sung by Keri Fuge and Roderick Williams.

Given the subject matter, it is no surprise that the heady atmosphere of Vertigo looms large. A smouldering sense of doom and passion combines in the score from the start. So much is broodingly slow that it is hard to sense any dramatic drive, but the music is pure Herrmann and anybody who loves the film soundtracks may feel this is a good way to sample the opera.

There is a worthwhile filler in Herrmann’s string quartet Echoes, arranged here for string orchestra also by Sørensen, though the playing of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in this case is not top of the grade. Mario Venzago conducts the suite and Joshua Tan the string quartet.

★★★★☆

‘Herrmann: Suite from Wuthering Heights’ is released by Chandos