" The Bernard Herrmann CD contains what is by far the best-recorded and -performed suite from Citizen Kane, including a sumptuous-sounding young Kiri Te Kanawa (in 1974, the year of her Met debut in Verdi’s Otello) singing the treacherous “Salammbô” aria. Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a terrible film, but the score demonstrates Herrmann’s amazing orchestration at its best including nine harps, electric bass, organ pedal, various combinations of low brass, and harp glissandos played with picks. This performance of the “Concerto Macabre” from Hangover Square renders the competition obsolete. Then, there is the “Death Hunt” from On Dangerous Ground. Scored for eight French horns, six trumpets, six trombones, and a formidable percussion section including a steel plate, this may be unmatched in its relentless ferocity."
