Herrmann's Style in Psycho, As Has Been Pointed out Often Enough

Herrmann's style in Psycho, as has been pointed almost exactly the same pace, which is to say some out often enough, broke with several sacrosanct twenty beats per minutes slower than on the sound- tenets of film scoring, notably by largely avoiding track. In fact, now that I'm used to the slower tempos themes per se and by limiting the instrumentation to of the Unicorn performance, I find the Phase-4 ver- a string orchestra. Particularly intriguing is the har- sion quite acceptable, especially with its amazingly monic technique: Much of the music is shaped present sound. But the new prelude is more subtle, around a single seventh chord—also used in the prel- more dynamically varied. The murder sequences are ude to Hitchcock's Vertigo (1959)—heard at the outset much more effective here, thanks to Unicorn's more of the prelude. (The final chord of the score, how- reverberant recording. ever, expands to a multiflatted ninth.) Because of this Herrmann and the string players of London's Na- essentially chordal orientation, Herrmann is able to tional Philharmonic are obviously deeply involved avoid the aural relief of harmonic resolution, and the in a performance that, while not always mirroring listener is no more able to latch onto a comfortable what is heard in the film, brings back with over- resting place in the music than he is in the film. whelming effectiveness Psycho's sledgehammer im- A tension is created between the indefiniteness of pact and reveals the staggeringly wide-range accom- the harmonic language and the exaggerated definite- plishment of a musician working within a self- ness of the rhythmic idiom, which in many places is imposed system of restraints. In a word, the disc is so relentless, so heavily accentuated that the listener invaluable. is aware not so much of temporal divisions as of a Were it not for the moody harmonies—much more subliminal pulse suggesting primordial violence. triadic than Psycho's but nonetheless characteris- Furthermore, at least in the prelude and its reap- tic—the Ghost and Mrs. Muir score would almost pearances, Herrmann alleviates what might be the seem not to be by the same composer. Yet first and music's tendency to excess by introducing, from time foremost one is struck, as in Psycho, by the thorough to time, a short, ascending-descending motive that appropriateness of the music for the film, one of the seems to draw everything slightly back toward real- many outstanding efforts by Mankiewicz, who has ity, bleak as it might be. shown particular skill in film adaptations of theatri- But there is no alleviation when it comes to the cal works (Julius Caesar, Suddenly Last Summer, murder scenes (and the "Discovery" sequence). Sleuth). There is, for instance, a marvelous title Hitchcock had at first wanted no music here, and it theme whose sealike swell (suggesting the locale) was only at the composer's insistence that the direc- melts wistfully into a typically rich, nonthvmatic tor, dissatisfied with his nonscored first efforts, re- chordal progression in the high strings. lented. The result is one of the most remarkable seg- Here, too, one has the chance to appreciate the ex- ments in the history of film music: a series of quisite subtlety of a master orchestrator. In addition slashing, shrieking strokes starting in the high vio- to the lovely transparency created by the frequent lins, descending in superimposed, open minor winds-and-harps combinations, the score is filled ninths, and repeated with the addition of one of the with unexpected, emotion-stirring shifts in instru- most macabre of all musical effects, the glissando. mentation, often in the middle of a melodic phrase. One is reminded of Thomas Mann's description of And, yes, even though some of the score tends the glissando as "a naturalistic atavism, a barbaric toward the nonthematic, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir rudiment from premusical days" used by the fic- contains some strikingly beautiful melodies, the titious composer in Dr. Faustus to create "images of most haunting of which belongs not to the ghost of terror" in his musical vision of the apocalypse. Captain Gregg (Rex Harrison), but to Lucy Muir Throughout the score Herrmann uses the string or- (Gene Tierney). chestra as if its resources were anything but limited: I was greatly impressed both by Elmer Bernstein's for instance, the pizzicato tremolo preceding the sec- interpretation of the score and by the airily spacious ond (Arbogast's) murder sequence. and clear recorded sound, which greatly enhances It should go without saying that, if ever a sound- the latticework textures of the instrumentation. track recording was needed, it was for Psycho. It is Bernstein's disc also features an exceptionally imagi- astonishing that none was issued at the time of the native use of directionality—the two harps, for in- film, and it was almost ten years before that omission stance, are divided between the speakers, and the was even partly remedied, with the appearance of movement from one to the other adds a nice touch to the London Phase-4 "Music from the Great Movie a seascape that momentarily takes your breath away. Thrillers"—read Hitchcock films—(SP 44126), which For once, the liner notes accompanying both re- includes a fifteen-minute "Narrative for Orchestra" leases (Fred Steiner for Ghost, Christopher Palmer based on the Psycho music. and Steiner for Psycho) provide fairly complete in- But a complete version was needed, and Unicorn formation on the films (a full list of credits would has now provided that, allowing one to follow the have been nice, though) and an extremely useful progressions and accumulations of the music's cells. breakdown of the various cues, with some often fas- Among the sequences revealed here and not heard cinating additional commentary. on the Phase-4 release are the nervous, mono- PsYcHo. Original film score by Bernard Herrmann. National chromatic snippets of "Temptation": the extended Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Herrmann, cond. [Chris- bit of converging contrary motion as Sam and Lila topher Palmer, prod I UNICORN RHS 336, $7.98. come closer to the "Discovery" in "The Hill": and the THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR: Original film score by Ber- combination of bitter nostalgia and horror-suspense nard Herrmann. Elmer Bernstein, cond. and prod. FILM Music in "Bedroom" and "Toys." COLLECTION ALeuni 4, $8.00 plus 60C handling to members Herrmann's tempos are quite similar to those on only (annual membership $10; Elmer Bernstein's Film Music the earlier recording. The prelude in both is taken at Collection, Box 261, Calabasas, Calif. 91302). 76 HIGH FIDELITY M AGAZINE ••••,-.

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