CITIZEN KANE and Bernard Herrmann's film score

FILM MUSIC IN FOCUS No. 10:

CITIZEN KANE

and

Bernard Herrmann's monumental film score

CITIZEN KANE opened at the Palace Theater in New York on May 1, 1941. It was released nationwide on September 5 of that year.

Listed in a Runner-Up position in 1952, but ten years later in 1962, CITIZEN KANE was in the No. 1 position on The Best Films Of All Time List by SIGHT AND SOUND (the respected magazine from the British Film Institute). It has remained on most critics lists ever since.

In the FILM IN FOCUS article, Film music critic Roger Hall offers his personal view of this classic film and score. Following the article are two of his CD reviews of the score from 1999. He has written extensively about Herrmann's music over the years, including for Film Score Monthly and Soundtrack magazines. He also wrote the entry on Bernard Herrmann in Volume 10 of the American National Biography encyclopedia.

The online article was first published for the 70th anniversary of the film in 2011. It was revised for the 75th and now for the 80th anniversary of the film's release with added material.

To read this anniversary tribute, click on this link --

Herrmann Raises Kane

Read about a key scene in CITIZEN KANE
in this book --

A Guide to Film Music: Songs and Scores

Tribute to
Bernard Herrmann's film scores

OBSESSION - A Tribute to Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann has the most film scores on the

100 Essential Film Scores
of the 20th Century

Recommended DVDs

Blu-ray 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition (3 discs)

DVD - CITIZEN KANE (2 Disc Special Edition)

DVD - Bernard Herrmann: Music For The Movies

If you want to read the score rundown for CITIZEN KANE
(over 100 pages of it!) by Bill Wroble, go here

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