Customer Reviews

Marnie: Original Motion Picture Score

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I have awaited the release of a complete score for Marnie for the longest time. The movie itself, released in 1964, was originally considered a bomb. I have learned that this was to be Grace Kelly's return to films, but when that failed to pan out, Hitch turned to Tippi Hedren instead. Hitch's famous break with Hedren left him to give up on the movie, and some say it shows in the production values. This movie has since earned the respect and admiration of many. Certainly, it has become one of the most debated of Hitch's later films.

As for the score, rarely have I heard a Herrmann score I didn't like. This score, to me, stands out as being even more emotionally driven than his others, which with Herrmann, you wouldn't think possible. In some ways, it reminds me of his work for Vertigo, but in a more concise, fine-tuned form. As with all Varese Sarabande re-issues or re-recordings of scores, this one is top quality. The sound quality is great, and long time Herrmann conductor Joel McNeely keeps faithful to the original, so much so that it is hard to tell the difference. Bravo!

Now where's The Man who knew too much and The Wrong Man?

Often compared to "Vertigo", the score for "Marnie" is really very different. I would pair them up (not to be sold separately) as compansion scores, Herrmann completely mesmerizes us with his themes, blending variations with eloquent and subtle cues, depicting each character in the film. "Marnie" is more emotionally driven than "Vertigo", and fine tuned to the story-line. Herrmann was a genius and knew his craft well.

Herrmann's "Marnie" relies heavily on strings, usually with lyrical solos for the winds. This re-recording of the award-winning Royal Scottish National Orchestra, under the direction of Joel McNeely, is truly an major event - the absolute in capturing the essence of the Original Motion Picture Score.

Outstanding release from - Robert Townson (producer), Jonathan Allen (recording engineer), Richard Hale (asst engineer), Bruce Botnick (mastering engineer) and Varese Sarabande, everyone concerned put together another classic film score which has become a cult favorite among movie and music collectors alike.

Also available on Varese Sarabande - other works by our favorite composer Bernard Herrmann - "Bernard Herrmann At Fox Vol. 1" (302 066 052 2), "Bernard Herrmann At Fox, Vol. 2" (302 066 053 2), "Citizen Kane" (302 065 806 2) "Fahrenheit 451" (VSD-5551), "The Ghost And Mrs. Muir" (original soundtrack/VSD-5850), "The Ghost And Mrs. Muir" (score/VSD-47254), "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" (VSD-5849) "North By Northwest" (VSD-47205), "Psycho" (VSD-5765), "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad" (VSD-5961) "Trouble With Harry" (VSD-5971)"Torn Curtain" (unused score/VSD-5817) and "The Twilight Zone (TV) (302 066 087 2)...from our favorite composer, legendary icon - BERNARD HERRMANN!

Total Time: 50:39 on 41 Tracks...Varese Sarabande 302 066 094 2...(2000)

In just four short years, Alfred Hitchcock went from being a cutting-edge genius of cinema to an old-fasioned has-been who lost touch with his audience. Or, so it would seem: The director of the brutal and gothic "Psycho" forged a shocker that immediately grabbed viewers by the jugular and never let go; "Marnie," though, was a more elusive movie. It was the "last of an era" Hitchcock movie, a Cinderella fable gone tragically awry.

Bernard Herrmann's scores for these two movies likewise receive credit and blame: His avant-garde polytonal string score for "Psycho" seemed terribly modern, even though it was mostly reworked from an earlier Herrmann composition, Sinfionetta for Strings (1936). His score for "Marnie," though heavily reliant upon a rich string ensemble, was less brutal and more lush. Most of the score is built around three themes, the opening theme predominates. First announced on strings, the themes echo fleetingly on woodwinds and French horns in a tapestry of orchestral color.

As Hitchcock's linear narrative, use of painted backdrops and upper-crust social settings seemed faintly British (the novel "Marnie" was penned by English author Winston Graham, and Hitch transplanted the story to Philadelphia, Baltimore and the Virginia Hunt Country), Herrmann (who was himself a lifelong Anglophile) provided an aural companion to the onscreen action: There are hints of Elgar, Arthur Benjamin and Vaughan Williams in the score, and although the score to "Marnie" is often compared to the score Herrmann wrote for "Vertigo," the movie as a whole has a feel more akin to "Rebecca" or "Suspicion," particularly through Herrmann's robust music during the hunt scene.

Because "Marnie" flopped at the box office, many blamed Herrmann's old-fashioned score. In just four years, he too went from being avant-garde to regarded as horribly un-hip. Soundtracks by 1964 relied less and less on orchestral scoring and more and more on inserting pop as background music to the action onscreen.

Time does have a funny way, though, of changing people's perspective, and ironically "Marnie" is regarded as ahead of its time, and Herrmann's score to it as one of his greatest.

May the Saints bless conductor Joel McNeely for taking on the yeoman's task of recording Herrmann's major scores and bestowing his scholarly knowledge of Herrmann's music and TLC in orchestral phrasing in his performances. While I did not warm up to his recording of "Vertigo" (Muir Mathieson's soundtrack sits too powerfully in my mind's ear) as readily, I believe McNeely really hit the mark with "Marnie." His reading is darkly dramatic and nuanced, but he never loses sight of the overall line and tone of the music. It is as Herrmannesque as any of Elmer Bernstein's superb recordings.

After earlier triumphs, such as "Psycho," "Vertigo" and "Citizen Kane," Joel McNeely and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra deliver another definitive digital recording from composer Bernard Herrmann. This recording is excellent and stands alongside their recording of "Vertigo" for sheer intensity and interpretation of Herrmann's scoring. The MARNIE theme is central to the score, but its variations as written by Herrmann, reveal the subtleties of the scenes played out by the characters on the screen. This recording reveals those subtleties so precisely and eloquently that you are able to recall the exact scenes from the film. The recording of this score has been long overdue, but it was worth the wait. I highly recommend it.

The music of Marnie is easily one of the best of Bernard Herrmann, it enhances the power of the movie which is a masterpiece. The music is alternatively romantic, dramatic and sad. My favourite track is the "the hunt", the music begins like the music of a hunt, then when Marnie realises the horror of the hunt, it turns to dramatic tune, and finally becomes powerfully dramatic and suspensful when her horse is hurt. Marnie's music is the music of the heart and passion. Through this marvellous work of Bernard Herrmann, one can feels the same sentiments of Marnie, resent her emotions and understand the complex personality of the character.

The soundtrack to "Marnie" ranks as the last score used that was composed by Herrmann for a Hitchcock film. Herrmann did compose a score for the later "Torn Curtain" but it was shelved by Universal in favor of a more "contemporary" effort by John Addison.

That said, "Marnie" is work that is as enigmatic as the title character of the film. Herrmann effectively captured the psychological demons that plagued a woman who dealt with childhood trauma coupled with an adult penchant for embezzlement.

The score is at one point thrilling, then it becomes subdued. Shades of "Vertigo" echo throughout, especially in romantic themes written for scenes between stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery ("The Bridal Suite," for example).

Three of the most exciting tracks are "The Hunt," "Forio's Fall," and "Forio's Death." Each of these is tied to Marnie's ill-fated participation in a fox hunt and the resulting death of her beloved horse. Herrmann drew up his vast background in classical music to compose these brilliant and tense-filled melodies.

Though the score is not in the same league as "Psycho," "North by Northwest," and "Vertigo," it's still Herrmann and no other composer in movie history has been as gifted and prolific as he.

After earlier triumphs, such as "Psycho," "Vertigo" and "Citizen Kane," Joel McNeely and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra deliver another definitive digital recording from composer Bernard Herrmann. This recording is excellent and stands alongside their recording of "Vertigo" for sheer intensity and interpretation of Herrmann's scoring. The MARNIE theme is central to the score, but its variations as written by Herrmann, reveal the subtleties of the scenes played out by the characters on the screen. This recording reveals those subtleties so precisely and eloquently that you are able to recall the exact scenes from the film. The recording of this score has been long overdue, but it was worth the wait. I highly recommend it.

Undoubtedly, Marnie belongs to the top list of Bernard Herrmann's best film scores, a wonderful musical image of Alfred Hitchcock's underrated movie. Written for small ensemble (strings, woods, harp and horns) Herrmann gives the music a wonderfully flowing mood, tasteful and delighted along with the dark characteristics in every second bar that Herrmann so masterful handles in all his works for Hitch. Joel McNeely's reading is simply stunning as ever, so is the performance, but I just don't like the overall acoustics on these Varèse rerecordings with the large hall reverb giving the orchestra no room for details. They simply are overheard in this muffled sound. This is far from ideal for recording a film score and I bet Herrmann would not have liked this! But, it's a great, great score.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra just keeps getting better. This is their best recording from the Herrmann-Hitchcock teaming of films. It stands up there with their recording of Vertigo. A must-have recording.

Another welcome example of Varèse Sarabande's efforts to present re-recordings of great movie soundtracks. At the same time, another example of their poor booklet editing. This time, the name of the movie's leading lady, Tippi Hedren, is misspelled Hedron twice. How on earth does it happen that such a mistake gets printed??