The Kentuckian

Herrmann's score for his second Western differed quite substantially from the one he provided for his first. Whereas the music for Garden of Evil was harsh and unforgiving, The Kentuckian was warm and lyrical. In a sense the scores reflect the movies' two different landscapes: one, the dry desert and rock of Michoacan in southern Mexico; the other, the green wilderness of Kentucky. For Burt Lancaster's first picture as director Herrmann chose a recognisably American idiom to write in, one that is reminiscent of Aaron Copland's Rodeo music. Some of the cues ("The Stagecoach", "The Steamboat", "Welcome Aboard" and "Scherzo") have a toe-tapping barn dance energy to them that makes you want to throw a Stetson into the air and shout "Yeehaw!"

For many years all I had of the music was on a Preamble disc (PRCD 1777). The CD was called The Kentuckian, but it had only nineteen minutes of the score arranged in a symphonic suite that favoured the Coplandesque cues. The full score was re-recorded by Morgan/Stromberg in 2007 on their new Tribute Film Classic label (TFC-1004), and it revealed that the do-si-do hoedown numbers - pleasing though they are - are just a small part of the overall work. There are moments of nerve-shredding tension ("The Rope", "The Kill") and brooding suspense ("Anger"), and shimmering string interludes ("Nocturne"). Sometimes single tracks manage to encompass all three ("The Boy and his Dog"). There's even some authetic bar room source music ("Saloon Piano", "The Gamblers"). The forty eight cues (some as short as seventeen seconds) are woven together to form a rich quilt of Americana.