Customer Reviews

Hitchcock-Master of Mayhem

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There have been better and there have been worse recordings of music for Alfred Hitchcock's films. However, this CD contains a Suite from REAR WINDOW. You get the "Prelude," "Rhumba," "Ballet" and the "Finale" all from REAR WINDOW and they are all very good. Lalo Schifrin does an excellent job with the Bernard Herrmann pieces as well. Schifrin also includes some of his own compositions which sound really good. However, the music from REAR WINDOW is really what sold me. Schifrin does a great job with these.

I have to agree with the other reviewer, that this cd was not the best. The songs were too slow (especially Psycho and Rear Window) and really sounded fake. There is also not just Hitchcock music on here, but there is music from other movies that Lalo Schifrin did. It was a very poorly put together cd.

The only reason I kept this cd is because it contains MOST of the instrumental score from Rear Window, which you cannot find anywhere else. If you want to hear the Hitchcock music the way it sounds in the movies, I recommend "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Signatures in Suspense".

The bottom line is unless you want the score to Rear Window- stay AWAY from this cd!

This is the best $3 ever spent! The shipping cost more, however no issue! I just love this CD...the great mood and style of Hitchcock with the musical genius of Lalo Schifrin! The music brought me back to the films. A bonus too having Schifrin's own soundtracks from films such as Bullit and Dirty Harry. I think it's a perfect CD to play at a dinner party (maybe skipping the 'Psycho' theme); or as background music to a good book or magazine! I highly recommend this CD. You just don't get this quality of music these days....not to mention the class!

Even if technically this album isn't up to scratch, it can't be said that Schifrin and the San Diego Pops entirely miss the spirit of the old Hitchcock scores. This is an entertaining romp through themes from Waxman, Herrmann, and a few of Lalo Schifrin's own tunes.

I believe this is the only available recording of Franz Waxman's music from Rear Window, which was really what made me buy this CD. Waxman's score is jazz-oriented, some of which is a reworking of themes from A Place in the Sun. (The rest of the film featured an eclectic mix of his own work and others', including a few snatches of Leonard Bernstein, though everything here is the composer's own.) Again, the technical quality is patchy--there are even a few wrong notes in there--but Lalo has captured the liveliness and playfulness of Waxman's original.

Let the buyer beware: six of the thirteen tracks on this disc have nothing to do with Hitchcock soundtracks. The final 20+ minutes of the disc contains the music of conductor Lalo Schifrin, which is fine if the distributor will change the disc title. If you are a big fan of Hitchcock films and their music, you may be a bit disappointed in some of these renderings, especially the tempos. The "North by Northwest Overture," which opens the CD, lacks the excitement of the original due to the slow tempo. The "Alfred Hitchcock Theme" (Gounod's "Funeral March of the Marionette") is performed at a much faster tempo than fans of the television show will remember. Overall the disc is pretty good, but listening made me want to view the original films and hear the original soundtracks even more.

Advertised as being "HITCHCOCK, Master Of Mayhem", this CD by legendary film composer/conductor Lalo Schifrin and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is even more than that. Schifrin, in his earliest days in Hollywood, had worked on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", putting him in touch not only with the Master himself, but also the director's favorite composer, the legendary Bernard Herrmann. As a result, Schifrin's interpretations of Herrmann's scores for Hitchcock's PSYCHO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, VERTIGO, and MARNIE have a faithfulness to them. Schifrin also includes Franz Waxman's classic music for the Master (REAR WINDOW; REBECCA).

The last part of this recording sees Schifrin conduct his own music from the TV shows "Mannix" and the very familiar "Mission Impossible", as well as ROLLERCOASTER, BULLITT, and the world premiere recording of the "Dirty Harry Suite" (which merges themes from the original DIRTY HARRY, MAGNIUM FORCE, and THE DEAD POOL). And as a nod to the classical genre (and again to Hitchcock), there's Gounod's celebrated "Funeral March Of A Marionette." Of the many recordings of this piece besides this one, only Paul Paray's 1959 recording with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is as brilliantly done.

Well worth picking up for this deliciously macabre and mixed bag.