DAZZLING BERNARD HERRMANN SCORES LAUNCH DEDICATED NEW LABEL
Tribute Film Classics release Mysterious Island and Fahrenheit 451
in definitive CD editions with bonus material and deluxe booklets

Sherman Oaks, CA - November 25, 2007 - A new recording label dedicated to meticulous rerecordings of classic film scores hits the ground running with two CDs of music from the esteemed composer, Bernard Herrmann.

Christened Tribute Film Classics, the label premieres with Herrmann’s spectacularly colorful Mysterious Island on one disc, and the beautifully moving Fahrenheit 451, coupled with the poetic ‘Walking Distance’ episode of The Twilight Zone, on another. The scores are painstakingly complete with tantalizing, never-before-heard music. Score restorations are by TFC principals John Morgan, Anna Bonn and William Stromberg, who also conducted the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in exacting, stellar performances for both releases.

Mysterious Island (1961), based on the book by Jules Verne, was produced by Charles Schneer and visual effects genius Ray Harryhausen. Set during the American Civil War, the film centers around escaping soldiers in a hot air balloon who end up crashing in the ocean, only to find themselves washed up on an unknown island where gigantic animals abound (courtesy of Harryhausen’s magic). Famed Captain Nemo, evil pirates, and a volcanic eruption add to the exotic adventure.

Hermann’s wildly diverse and wonderfully descriptive score runs the gamut from the grandly epic to the exhilaratingly quirky to the ethereally beautiful as he captures the essence of majesty, monsters, and mystery. “Few people can capture so well that rather elusive individuality,” Harryhausen himself said of the new rerecording. “But this inaugural recording... of Herrmann’s complete Mysterious Island score has achieved this.”

Included in the CD’s 32-page, full-color booklet are observations from Harryhausen, composer Christopher Young, film historian Bruce Crawford, The Bernard Herrmann Society’s Gunther Kogebehn, and artist Craig Reardon. The comprehensive liner notes are by composer/conductor Kevin Scott.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966) was Francois Truffaut’s film adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novella about a future totalitarian society where books are forbidden. Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) is one of many firemen whose job is to burn all printed matter, but when he decides to steal and read a book, his world view turns upside down. He leaves his former way of life and escapes to a new world of ‘book people.’ Julie Christie plays both his vain wife and the woman who begins his liberating journey.

“Not only does this score contain some of Herrmann’s most beautiful and moving film music since The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Vertigo, his harmonic language is filled with surprises on every page and is quite unlike anything he had previously written,” John Morgan said. “Because of all the dropped music and low dubbing levels [in the film], listening to this complete recording of Fahrenheit 451 is like discovering a new Herrmann score. For me, it is the composer’s last great masterpiece.”

The companion piece on this CD is Herrmann’s sensitive, poetic score for The Twilight Zone episode ‘Walking Distance’ about a jaded executive who visits his hometown only to find it exactly as it was when he was fifteen. It was Herrmann’s third score for the series and originally composed in 1959 for small string ensemble and harp. For this recording, the strings have been expanded for full orchestra, along with a second harp for balance, creating a completely new dimension to the work. No notes have been added, and the voicing remains Herrmann’s own.

The accompanying 32-page color booklet contains remembrances from author Bradbury, composer Christopher Young, and The Bernard Herrmann Society’s Gunther Kogebehn, with comprehensive liner notes again by Kevin Scott.

With advance interest high, TFC has already recorded the scores for Max Steiner’s She, and Bernard Herrmann’s The Kentuckian and Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot for future releases.

The expert production and exclusive distribution of TFC score CDs is by Screen Archives Entertainment

I'd already heard the Cloud Nine recording, which I've also enjoyed, but this is like listening to it anew. The recording is so crisp that I can hear a lot of instruments much better, such as the woodwinds in the Balloon sequence (my favorite part of the score), and there's some beautiful parts that weren't on the Cloud Nine release. It's a real treasure for a Herrmann fan, and I'll no doubt be picking up Fahrenheit before long.