BERNARD HERRMANN ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S VERTIGO (O/S/T) RARE ORIG'60 MERCURY MONO LP

$

32

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  MORE THAN 400  LISTED ITEMS

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·       BERNARD HERMANN – VERTIGO – ULTRA-RARE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK TO THE CLASSIC HITCHCOCK FILM – ORIGINAL 1959 MERCURY RECORDS MONO LP MG-20384 (THIS IS THE RARE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE SOUNDTRACK, NOT ONE OF MANY LATER RE-RECORDINGS)

·       ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·       ORIGINAL BLACK MERCURY LABEL WITH SILVER SCRIPT.

·       DEEP GROOVE PRESSING.

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

·       ORIGINAL GLOSSY, LIGHTLY LAMINATED COVER

·       THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·       CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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This album was, at one time, the best extant version that one could purchase of one of the finest film scores ever written; but life and decisions have since gotten much richer and more complicated for film music enthusiasts. In the 1990s, the score was first re-recorded in full by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under conductor Joel McNeely, and then, a little after that, the original scoring tracks from the movie itself were retrieved, restored, and released commercially, which reduced the significance of this album, without rendering it quite obsolete. As to the music itself, Vertigo was one of best works by Bernard Herrmann, composer for the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film, and one of his most beautiful and disturbing film scores. He developed longer melodies than usual but employs many of the same variation and motif-mixing techniques that he had previously used, and the result -- listening to just the music, or taking it in as an element of the movie -- is something midway between a symphony and an opera, in terms of the impact on the listener. The work opens in high-energy drama with a propulsive polytonal arpeggio (E flat minor over D minor) in triplets that is one of the central motifs throughout the score (this also recalls the opening of Herrmann's score for The Day the Earth Stood Still, written at the other end of the decade). As an amusing touch, when the credit "Directed by Alfred Hitchcock" appears on the screen, you hear a low rotund D note on the tuba. From that start, you get the musical depiction of violent physical action, sudden death, and the fear motif associated with James Stewart's character that will be central to rest of the plot and the denouement. Along with a bizarrely scored and orchestrated Spanish-themed section, associated with the supposed psychosis of the woman that Stewart's character has been hired to protect (from herself), you get a love theme that has been compared to Wagner's Liebestod from Tristan und Isold in impact and intensity. The score was too complex and challenging to earn any honors from the Hollywood of the late '50s, but it did earn a commercial soundtrack release, the first music associated with a Hitchcock movie so honored. What makes this very complicated for collectors and fans coming in since the mid-'90s is the plethora of Vertigo soundtracks, and the fact that Herrmann didn't conduct them, for the album or for the film itself. It was intended that, as with his other scores, he would do so, in Los Angeles, but a musicians' strike precluded this. Instead, arrangements were made for the score for the movie to be recorded in London under conductor Muir Mathieson, an old film music hand whose work in the field went back to the 1930s. And this was being done when the British musicians' union decided to support their colleagues across the ocean, and so parts of the score then had to be recorded in Vienna, as well, and the latter were in mono, as opposed to the stereo sound on the London-recorded tracks (note: original LP was only released in mono -- op.ed). Finally, when it came time to prepare a commercial soundtrack release, Mathieson was back in England and cut those tracks, 34 minutes' worth of music, with the Sinfonia of London, comprising this album. Those seeking Herrmann's own conducting on the Vertigo music, incidentally, will have to look to the suite that he prepared and recorded on the 1969 album now known as Music from the Great Hitchcock Movie Thrillers.

(REVIEW REPRINTED COURTESY OF BRUCE EDER, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

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·       CONDITION:

·       RECORD

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG++ and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial  and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant).For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)          The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(c)           The record has a "deep groove" (an indent in the label about 1/2-inch from the edge of the label, which on SOME labels is associated with very early or first pressings).

(d)          Stereo copies of this album are NOT known to exist (although later re-recordings and remastered compact disc versions of the score ARE in true stereo).

(e)           Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·       COVER (THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, LAMINATED, GLOSSY COVER):

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT VERY GOOD++ (VG++).

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-        Cover has a partially split top seam (between 4 and 6 inches  / 10 to 15 centimeters); This split seam was delicately taped by the previous owner with a piece of transparent scotch tape

-        Cover has a partially split bottom seam (between 4 and 6 inches  / 10 to 15 centimeters); This split seam was delicately taped by the previous owner with a piece of transparent scotch tape

-        Cover has some light ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 2  (front side) and 4 (back side)

-        Back cover has circular tarnish (grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record),  probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.

-         Cover shows some light yellowing on back side, apparently from aging.

-        Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the spine

-         Visible shelf wear noted on the seams

-         Cover has a small quality control (inspection) stamp on the back panel

-         Back cover has a few yellowish dust speckles scattered here and there (these tiny spots are not overly obtrusive or distracting)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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