Alfred Hitchcock’s striking visuals were often augmented with music that rose to the occasion. The most celebrated of the director’s composers was Bernard Herrmann. Even though Herrmann himself downplayed the importance of music made for cinema (“its existence is shaped by the film”), it’s now hard to imagine an iconic moment like Psycho’s notorious shower scene without the shrieking, stabbing strings that accompany it. Revisiting excerpts from the seven films that matched Hitchcock’s directional verge with the dark romanticism of Hermann’s music in a live setting is a difficult task, but it’s one that’s taken on with gusto by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, under the guidance of conductor Benjamin Northey.
Presenter Phillip Sametz is on hand to give some context, but most of the music speaks for itself. There’s a devastatingly doomed romanticism to Vertigo’s soundtrack – even in its more reflective moments the spiralling instrumentation the weaves throughout the film gives it a queasy, uneasy atmosphere. Jagged strings and booming horns are a perfect fit for the bold, graphic opening credits to Vertigo and Psycho, while electrifying music matches the pace and dynamics of a series of atypical chase scenes: a forcibly drunk-driving Cary Grant on the winding streets of Long Island, the panicked Marnie fleeing on horseback with tragic consequences, and the guilt-ridden anxiety and paranoia of Marion Crane’s drive to Bates Motel.
There are moments of horror and tension that set you on the edge of your seat, not least that shocking encounter in the bathroom, but either side of these set pieces there are tense build-ups and quaking aftermaths, so there’s little chance for you to settle in and feel safe and secure. Which is just how Hitchcock would have wanted it.
After a climax that replicates the dramatic orchestral performance of Arthur Benjamin’s cantata Storm Clouds Cantata in The Man Who Knew Too Much (complete with choir, but thankfully sans thwarted assassination attempt), Northey wishes us a safe and uneventful night home. A night of thriller soundtrack music does make for a more unsettling night than your average MSO performance, but I’d happily be back for another Herrmann tribute – perhaps with the addition of theremin so we can bask in the otherworldly soundtrack of The Day The Earth Stood Still?
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Photo by Daniel Aulsebrook
Loved: Psycho, Vertigo.
Hated: No hate for Hitchcock or Herrmann but Torn Curtain is pretty ‘meh’.
Drank: Post-work beers.
