Symphony No. 1;New England Triptych

HERRMANN Symphony No. 1 SCHUMAN New England Triptych The Phoenix Symphony, James Sedares, conductor (Koch International Classics) Best known for his mold-breaking film scores (Citizen Kane, Psycho, Taxi Driver), New York-born Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) led a respectable second life as a serious composer. His one symphony dates from 1940 and was premiered by the New York Philharmonic. Rawboned and edgy, it reveals along its 36-minute course the hand of a skilled craftsman, capable of projecting grand dramatic ideas. If the work doesn't shake completely free from movieland melodramatics, it does manage some impressive and dramatic statements, and even finds room in the boisterous second movement for some borrowings from a worthy ancestor, the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. The ''New England Triptych''-the late William Schuman's affectionate reworking of hymn tunes by the nation's 18th-century musical pioneer William Billings -is more Americana. Both works are exuberantly delivered by the Phoenix Symphony, newly revitalized by its young conductor, James Sedares. A- -Alan Rich