At first glance this disc of chamber music might appeal exclusively to film music buffs. Upon closer inspection this is not so, especially when only ten minutes are devoted to music derived from a film score. The principal work on the CD is the Souvenirs de Voyage, said to be inspired by Vaughan Williams’s setting of On Wenlock Edge. I also hear the mellifluous breath of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll in this music. It is a fine work, worthy of more regular attention in the concert hall.

Herrmann was one of America’s finest film composers, certainly the composer with the most original style. Whereas most film composers use the standard orchestral ensemble to canvas their musical ideas, Herrmann was always seeking unusual groupings: in Journey to the Centre of the Earth for example, he created primeval effects using five harps, four organs and a serpent. The music...