Composer: Bernard Herrmann
Performer: Keri Fuge, Roderick Williams
Orchestra: Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Mario Venzago, Joshua Tan
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHSA5337
Release: 2023
Size: 1.37 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Wuthering Heights: Suite
01. I. Prologue. The Snow and Wind – Oh, Cathy! Come in. Oh, come in
02. II. I have been wandering through the green woods
03. III. Do you remember the day you first came to Wuthering Heights!
04. IV. On the moors, on the moors
05. V. Look, the moon
06. VI. Interlude (Nocturne)
07. VII. I am the only being, whose doom no tongue would ask
08. VIII. I have dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me for ever
09. IX. Meditation
10. X. Heathcliff. Heathcliff
11. XI. Will you say so, Heathcliff!
12. XII. Open the window. Let me breathe the wind
13. XIII. Death of Cathy – I shall not leave you, you are my soul
14. XIX. Largo assai
15. XV. May she wake in torment!
16. XVI. Lento
17. XVII. Heathcliff! Heathcliff! Let me in
18. XVIII. Oh, Cathy! Come in, oh come in!
19. XIX. Adagio tenebroso
20. Echoes for String Quartet
Bernard Herrmann is widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s most important composers, responsible for more than fifty film scores (in addition to his work for TV, radio, and the concert hall), and noted for his collaborations with Orson Welles and, later, with Alfred Hitchcock. Welles was unofficially involved with Robert Stevenson’s film of Jane Eyre in the 1940s, and it was Welles that suggested Herrmann as composer for the project. Herrmann became obsessed with all things Brontë, and within months was writing to friends of his plans to write an opera on Wuthering Heights. It took him eight years to complete the vocal score, using a libretto written by his wife, Lucille Fletcher. Although he conducted a recording of the work, in 1966, he failed to see a live production in his lifetime. Although the opera features eight solo roles, Cathy and Heathcliff dominate the action and are the only singers in Hans Sørensen’s Suite of excerpts – recorded here for the very first time. Keri Fuge and Roderick Williams take the vocal roles in this recording. Echoes was composed in 1965 for string quartet, and was later arranged for string orchestra by Hans Sørensen – the version heard on this album. The recording was made in the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore.