"Concerto Macabre" by Bernard Herrmann

[djrobmeyer]

AMAZING! Undoubtedly one of my favourite pieces by Herrmann!

[nontheistdavid]

You can get this movie along with 2 other films directed by the same man. They are all brilliant movies to be honest.Fox Horror Classics Collection (The Lodger / Hangover Square / The Undying Monster) (1944)

[Numinous20111]

What a composer. I can't understand how anyone wouldn't respond to Herrmann's music. It's always compelling. It's no wonder that composers like Goldsmith idolised him.

[outdoorcats]

Masterpiece. I was directed here (again) after hearing the Hermann tribute on NPR.

[albanybeardguy]

There's a nice recording of it on a Naxos disc called "Piano Concertos from the Movies"

[asktunes]

Just finished watching Hangover Square with its riveting, chilling concerto scene. Listening to this piece through again while reading the bio of the beautiful Laird Cregar just made tears roll down my cheeks. I'll forever associate this amazing, haunting composition with him.

[AkaikenSatsugai]

It has the feeling of insanety mixed with tragedy. Like if someone has lost in mind and goes all lunatic and stuff... But he feels pains at the same time. Like if something's missing.

Everyone knows that a lot of pain can get anyone out of their mind, and do terrible things...

[peppersax]

My #1 all time favorite film composer.....EVER! This piece is very 'classical' in nature and shows his mastery of the orchestra. BRILLIANT!!!

[284Maldiner]

krellabs is very complimentary. I thank you. I just finished the biography of Herrmann. What a sad man, alienating so many with his sudden and violent emotional outbursts, but then alternately calm, charming, knowledgeable about music in so many ways. He died of heart disease and a university study suggests his personality type simply wears out the heart. He was only 64 when he shuffled off this mortal coil.

[284Maldiner]

An extraordinarily moving piece, as good as anything from the 19th century romantic composers or from 20th century composers. With the simplest orchestral phrases he makes deeply tragic statements. There is an entire world of feeling in this work. This is a piece written with great confidence and ingenious artistry. And yet overall lacking in pretension. It is refined emotion, tragic in dimension. I agree. One of his best.

[krelllabs]

@284Maldiner  Beautifully put.

[malc239]

I once asked his wife Norma if he was a moody man. She replied,"O my god yes"

[shadowylie]

just try to imagine Psycho, Vertigo and some of Hitchcock's other movies without the musical genius of this man........not o mention Citizen Kane and so many others.

[JimBucket]

Good, nice.

[jonsilence]

This is so brilliant.....wish you had the movie footage to accompany this...its equally over the top.

[SebastianQ86]

Do you know where to buy this!? Couldn't find it on iTunes!!

[Herrmann90]

@SebastianQ86

There are two CD's available on Amazon, I would personally recommend the one in which it includes the score for Hangover Square along with the Citizen Kane score. It's called "The Film Music of Bernard Herrmann-Hangover Square and Citizen Kane, I believe it can also be purchased as an mp3 download

[SebastianQ86]

@Herrmann90 Thanks! ;)

[lp45cdwoman]

@Herrmann90 And I've always loved how the orchestra gradually falls away as the flames burn higher, finally leaving the pianist alone and insane.

[ReiK0Z]

@SebastianQ86

RIP IT FROM THE VIDEO, IDIOT.

[SebastianQ86]

@ReiK0Z Asshole.

[cetusra]

@ReiK0Z How about: Why don’t you download a program called “Fastest Free YouTube Downloader to MP3 Converter 3.3.”

[ReiK0Z]

@cetusra

I AM NOT THE ONE WHO WANTS TO DOWNLOAD THE SCORE.

[jewpiles]

@SebastianQ86 Why would anyone want to buy great music in mp3 format? Mp3 is easily one of the worst audio formats

Oh itunes, how i hate you...

[BonzoLatro]

WOW. Herrmann never ceases to astound.

[deeyem1991]

Amazing, the ultimate darkside master. Untouchable, like a Lovecraft story

[Composerland]

thanks for posting this.

[Jazsngr]

I lOVE this man!! What a wonderful piece of music. He is SO much what I love about music in film.

Sylvia

[koap123]

it is like prokofiev and ravel... in a word, I love it!

[MsSharon555]

One must see the film "Hangover Square" to fully appreciate Maestro Herrmans' Concerto Macabre, as well as the riveting performance of brilliant actor Laird Cregar! His well publicized weight loss was astounding also!

[johnnynoirman]

I still remember Laird Cregar wanting to finish his concerto("Concerto Macabre") in the midsts of a ROARING INFERNO!...he sits down to plays until he's engulfed by RAGING FIRE and his surroundings!... and so dies the somnambulist killer of HANGOVER SQUARE

[MrCeleeebrity]

sounds so dark i love it.

[webkahmik]

UNBELIEVABLE, in the original sense of the word, the primordial sense. How about this though......the ultimate gothic atmospheric score painting its own landscape...havent yet seen the film, but listening to this I dont feel that ive missed much.......Herrmann was and is the ultimate, non?

[Herrmann90]

I have to agree with your comment 100%. The film, well it's entertaining, but the score implies something much more macabre, and in many ways is fine as a stand-alone piece. To this day, nothing can create such emotion and atmosphere as this piece, well except for my second favorite piece: Pacific 231

[svaz11]

My God, what a thrilling piece of music. It just sends chills up my spine. What a genius Bernard Herrmann was, and it's no wonder so many film composers owe such a debt to his memory...

[Jcolinsol]

Just keep trollin' trollin' trollin'

[NeoFallR]

Are you being serious!?! He was a genius, who wrote sublime music, straight from the heart of his soul. If you ask me he's not that far from Beethoven in importance.

[stinkriverstudios]

Damned straight. Thanks for talking some sense to this mutant.

[NeoFallR]

It had to be done. That comment was wrong on so many levels.

[akarpowicz]

Great movie, great score. Thanks for posting.

[peppersax]

This is what makes genius! Being able to tell who composed a 'certain' score by hearing just a couple of notes. I can never stop saying waht a true genius Bernard Herrmann was!

[floolagin]

Where can I find the score?

[lehah]

The score does not exist in any medium outside the film, though the Concerto was rerecorded by Naxos on a film music piano concerto compilation and later on a superior Herrmann compilation from RCA Victor conducted by Gerhardt.

[rpmlp]

@floolagin

[TheStockwell]

@floolagin - a "photostat of the manuscript full score in Bernard Herrmann's autograph" is in the Special Collections division of the University of California, Santa Barbara. This is where Herrmann's papers are housed.

[floolagin]

Just discovered, this... I love it!

[auirora1]

A flawless composition ,and an equally brilliant performance by Laird Cregar who tragically died shortly after the release of this masterpiece.

[loreeth]

Absolutely wonderful just doesn't cover it!

[CZARDASMACABRE]

Vraiment une perle....

[TheMitzjob]

Bernard, alongside Jerry Goldsmith and Alex North, remains the greatest soundtrack composer to ever write a chord...

[gribble00001]

Thank you so much for uploading this! I remember the movie well and think this score is wonderful. Herrmann was an exceptional talent.

[quornholio]

This is a great performance! Too hi-fi for when movie was made. Can you tell us who performed it? Thanks.

[Nettoyeur71]

Super upload, my friend. Much obliged.

[switchackr]

thanks for this one!

[amandakuchinski]

I saw Stephen Sondheim speak at Lincoln Center last night and he spoke of this piece/film as one of his true inspirations for becoming a composer!

[Herrmann90]

I can definately see how this was an inspiration to him, his music is within the same ranks of B. Herrmann's more somber pieces

[antipodkayne]

Thank you!