James Bernard
James Bernard 1925-2001
If any composer has been largely responsible for creating the sound of Hammer, or identified nearly exclusively with the musical significance and atmosphere for horror/fantasy films, it would almost certainly be James Bernard. Born September 20th, 1925 in India, the son of a British Army officer, Bernard suffered from early ill health and was relocated by his family back to his native England. Regaining his strength, he studied piano at Wellington College and joined The Royal Air force where he served proudly until 1946. Interested in music at an early age, he began a correspondence with composer Benjamin Britten who suggested that he study composition at The Royal College Of Music. Bernard had become something of a musical prodigy as a boy, offering piano recitals with ever maturing skill and natural assuredness. While learning his craft under the tutelage of Imogen Holst, the young Bernard remained close to Britten, staying at the home of his mentor in 1950 when the older composer asked his student to copy
For any fan of Hammer movies, the name of James Bernard is a familiar one. His music has added another dimension to the genre of the horror film, and his Dracula theme is as familiar to film music enthusiasts as John Williams' JAWS or Bernard Herrmann’s PSYCHO. Mr. Bernard now lives abroad. He was in England recently when he was doing further work with Silva Screen Records, as well as catching up with some theatre-going. I would like to thank Mr. Bernard for his very kind hospitality in London, and also for consenting to do this interview. Thanks also to Silva Screen, in particular David Stoner, for helping me to arrange this meeting.
A company in Houston, Texas (Tanis Film), got the world rights to NOSFERATU and they wanted to put it out on a video cassette in connection with a film museum in Munich. I’ve read that their version of NOSFERATU is the longest version there is, and it’s color-tinted. They wrote to Silva Screen Records to ask if they could use music they’d already recorded from my previous DRACULAs and stuff from that first CD that Silva Screen did of music from the Hammer films. David Stoner very wisely replied to them that he didn’t think this was a good idea, because the music was very much connected in the film fan’s minds with Christopher Lee. I think he was quite right about that. It would have confused people. And, secondly, he pointed out that it would have involved enormous re-use fees to the Philharmonia Orchestra, etcetera. So David told Tanis Films that I was alive and kicking, and what would they think of a new score which would come out considerably less expensive? They thought this was a good idea, and so that’s
Reviews
The horror films of England’s Hammer Films owed a great deal of their distinction to the powerful, thunderous musical scores of composers like James Bernard, Don Banks, David Whitaker, Harry Robinson and others, and much of the best horror film music of the last 30-odd years has been found in their movies.
This latest compilation from Silva Screen is a mix of the old and the new. In addition to new recordings of DRACULA, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. and HANDS OF THE RIPPER, there are various Dracula film scores, and music for Hammer’s pre-historic romps, assorted Frankenstein, Werewolf, Ripper, and Mummy films, all recorded between 1989 and 2001, and all refurbished in Silva’s stunning Surround Sound and HDCD.
The return of James Bernard to film scoring after a hiatus of 25 years is cause enough for celebration. The fact that it’s a horror film is cause for genuine excitement. And when the horror film is one of the great silent classics – one of the earliest cinematic incarnations of “Dracula”, the eerily hypnotic 1922 German classic, NOSFERATU, restored and rescored for live orchestral accompaniment by one of this century’s bonafide masters of horror music – well, it’s downright exhilarating.
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