Storm Clouds Cantata

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The Storm Clouds Cantata or Storm Cloud Cantata is a concert performance by the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin .

It was written for an assassination scene in The Man Who Knew Too Much by Alfred Hitchcock , which is set in the Royal Albert Hall . In the 1934 version of the film, H. Wynn Reeves conducted the London Symphony Orchestra . For the remake of the same name from 1956 , Bernard Herrmann wrote the film music. The remake was shot because Hitchcock owed the Paramount another film and assumed that this would be best suited to be remade, especially since he owned the rights to his title. Hitchcock gave Herrmann the chance to write a new piece for the performance, but Herrmann turned it down on the grounds that nobody could do it better than Benjamin. So Hitchcock and the President of the Paramount Music Department Roy Fjastad contacted Benjamin to inquire about the score of the Cantata. Herrmann and Hitchcock made only minor changes: lengthening a choir passage by one measure and editing the chorus in the introduction. Otherwise one stuck exactly to Benjamin's score. The use of the organ can be heard in both versions. It is often said that the organ was only used in the second version, but that is wrong. Due to the poor sound quality and the age of the material, it is a little difficult to hear the organ, but if you listen carefully you can recognize the bass notes (furthermore, the organ stand in both films is occupied by Sir George Thalben-Ball in the Albert Hall) . The version for the remake was mixed much better and almost all instruments can be heard clearly.

Instrumentation based on A. Benjamin

text

Dominic Bevan Wyndham Percy Lewis
The man who knew too much
"Solo":

There came a whispered terror on the breeze. And the dark forest shook

"Chorus":

And on the trembling trees came nameless fear. And panic overtook each flying creature of the wild.

"Solo":

All save the child - all save the child. Around whose head screaming the night-birds wheeled and shoot away.

"Chorus":

Finding release from that which drove them onward like their prey. Finding release the storm clouds broke and drowned the dying moon. The storm clouds broke - the current clouds broke. Finding release.

Changes for the remake

Yet stood the trees - yet stood the trees
Around whose heads screaming

The Cantata was performed and filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1955. The choir is the Covent Garden Opera Chorus with soloist Barbara Howitt. Depending on the performance, the work can last between eight and nine minutes. It starts in three-quarter time and is notated with Lento in A minor. The first half of the piece remains marked in Lento up to bar 108. Then the Allegro agitato begins, which is accompanied by constant bangs. The side drum plays for 14 bars until the ritenuto begins. The end is a very fast part in which the choir takes turns

Finding release; Finding release from that which drove them onward like their prey

sings and a loud basin hit in the last part, the Maestoso is replaced, in which the assassin shoots.

Hitchcock's Influences

Hitchcock loved to unsettle the viewer or to lure them on the wrong track. This is also the case immediately before and during the concert: Before the performance, the audience is shown an LP on which the music from the concert is located. In this way, the viewer is informed that this piece has made its way into the public eye and has proven itself. On the other hand, it shows the viewer the scores of the pool. This is a cymbal strike registered in fortissimo . However, it does not reveal anything to the viewer, as he does not know the piece and therefore only knows that there will be this cymbal strike at the end. However, these are not the correct notes because the original shows six cymbal beats. Even the score read by the assassin's accomplice is different, as the cantata never appeared in print. The only notes that match the original score are those of the conductor. Herrmann's lively conducting was filmed separately from the actual performance, which shows the comparison of the scores. When Herrmann hastily turns the page, he turns the last page, but the music is still three pages to go. So it was less about musical correctness than about the pure effect. But the claim that the sheet music shown is not the original is not entirely true: the shadow of the baton on the rapidly moving notes in the fast part are actually the original harp notes for the final part.

The Storm Clouds Cantata has only been used for CD recordings since these recordings and is available in stores. The version of the new recording was recorded with the reconstruction by Christopher Palmer, which can be borrowed from Themes and Variations for concerts and recordings. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will play under the baton of Elmer Bernstein . Claire Henry sings the mezzo-soprano with the Ambrosian Singers.

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