Ambersons soundtrack  

Music for the Ambersons was composed by Bernard Herrmann.   Herrmann had worked with Welles previously, composing music for the Mercury Theatre radio shows and Citizen Kane.    Herrmann's vision and style were just as unconventional as Welles, and was more understated and less melodic than classical Hollywood film scores.  The result is that the Ambersons score accents the mood of the film, rather than overwhelming it.

Unfortunately,more than half of Herrmann's score was cut during the massive editing process, and a new composer was assigned to compose music for the new scenes that were shot.  Herrmann threatened legal action unless his name was removed from the film's credits, which it was.  Unlike Welles, Herrmann's career was not damaged by Ambersons, and he would  go on to compose music for many other movies, especially those of Alfred Hitchcock.

The full Ambersons score shown above was recorded in 1990 by Tony Bremner and the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra and was distributed on CD under the Preamble label  This is the only recording with the full score, though some of the tracks are on compilations of Herrmann's music.    The Preamble recording is out of print, but it comes up for auction frequently on eBay. 

For more information on Bernard Herrmann, go here.