Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
NPR News

Celebrating radio and movie master Bernard Herrmann

(Photo Credit - DBKing via Flickr)
(Photo Credit - DBKing via Flickr)

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

Listen 45:45

Bernard Herrmann was famous for his film scores in movies like “Psycho” and “Vertigo.” He was also a legendary composer for radio dramas.

For Memorial Day, we’re taking deeper looks at his classic work with Norman Corwin and a Walt Whitman-inspired drama to rally the home front during World War II.

Herrmann is the next “More than Music” subject we discuss with author and cultural historian Joe Horowitz. Horowitz says it is important to understand Herrmann as more than a great film composer.

Hermann reigned supreme for a genre now largely forgottehttps://www.artsjournal.com/uq/404-2n: the radio drama. This hour we sample the radio drama from 1944 called “Whitman” and think about Whitman’s words about American democracy and inclusivity.

Sponsored message

Can it still inspire us? Or is a performance from almost 70 years ago a relic from the past?

 

This is a PostClassical Ensemble “More than Music” production, scripted and edited by Joseph Horowitz. The technical producer was Peter Bogdanoff.

Copyright 2022 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right