Psycho: The Complete Original Motion Picture Score [SOUNDTRACK]

Psycho (Related Recordings), Bernard Herrmann, Joel McNeely, Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 29, 1997)
• Original Release Date: June 16, 1960
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B000001502
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,016 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Much has been made of composer Bernard Herrmann's choice to use only razor-sharp, slashing strings for his score to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. And heaven knows it works like a dream (or a nightmare), the music feeling as edgy and colorless as the noir-ish black-and-white photography. But as noticeably effective as the knife-screeching violins are in the famous shower scene (followed by those deadly blows from the basses and cellos), they work just as powerfully--though perhaps not as noticeably--all throughout the picture. Herrmann evokes dread and tension with just a few notes, or captures Janet Leigh's flighty panic in pizzicato as she hits the fateful road to the Bates Motel after impulsively stealing a large sum of money from her employer. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally Free Of The Fruit Cellar, July 27, 2002

By	M. Packo (Stratford, CT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First of all, for all of those who have whinned
about preferring an "original" soundtrack recording
-- forget about it! Was never made; never will be.

The 1975 Unicorn-Kanchana recording, conducted by
Bernard Herrmann, (the 1989 cd is a VERY difficult
import to acquire) has been the definitive version of
the entire soundtrack -- until this 1997 recording.

Much as I respect many of Danny Elfman's original scores -
particularly Dolores Claiborne, Black Beauty, Mars Attacks
and even the amusing MIB II prelude - his treatment of
Herrmann's masterpiece is only a nice try.

With all that out of the way, and after considerable time
spent comparing the recording Herrmann finally had the
opportunity to make shortly before he died, (which I have
been listening to regularly for over 25 years) with McNeely's
version which I have been avoiding for a few years, my advice:

This is now the definitive version and will likely remain
so for decades. Barring a much needed remastering of the
Naional Philharmonic-Herrmann cd, you will NEVER hear this
score, which is simply one of the finest musical compositions
of the 20th century, the way it must be heard.
Depth, clarity and separation between the various strings -
particularly the celli and basses - is exceptional. Like
listening to the music for the first time! The prelude has
most - though not quite enough - of its frenzy back. The
two missing cues are very interesting and most welcome.
There is a nice inversion at the start of The Window which
makes it more interesting. Every track is engineered impeccably,
with a nice sustain and ring-off to the strings just the way
it ought to be. Originally I found certain cues, like The City,
The Curtain, and even The Water uninspired, too measured and
lacking spirit. Likewise, I still find Herrmann's conducting
usually has more of the flow and flavor of the music's essence
which McNeely sometimes seems to lose track of. However, the

overall dedication to craft and total respect for the quality
of this score is perfectly obvious. I regret having waited so
long to purchase this recording.

Lastly: The liner notes, though decent, really deserved to be
more detailed and technical. You can hear maestro Herrmann
doing such simple yet sublimely subtle things with his score
now, and it would have been so helpful for us non-musicians
if there had come included a bit more explanation as to what
compositional elements they are.
And why not have a companion video recording of this
recording session?
Now THAT would finally free Herrmann's masterpiece even more
from its neglected past!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ..Close, but no cheese sandwich, January 22, 2001

By	Michael M. Wilk "Eccentric" (Howard Beach, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have mixed feelings towards this umpteenth recording of Bernard Herrmann's chilling score for Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". I congratulate Joel McNeely for use tempi closer to those of the original soundtrack, but I still feel that there is something lacking, particularly in the Prelude. It does sound muffled and a little "timid", lacking the jarring ferocity of the original soundtrack. That is probably my biggest "beef" about this recording. And I have yet to hear a re-recording of the notorious "murder" music that is as effective as it was in the film. Maybe it was the placement of the microphones, maybe it was in the post-recording, giving it that almost distorted sound, (which was innocently mistaken by late writer Ivan Butler as sounding like "distorted screaming bird-cries", which, actually, it does!), but in the several re-recordings of the score, do sound like very high-placed strokes on violins, and almost always played too slow. But enough kvetching. This is probably the best re-recording of the score I have heard so far, and for that I congratulate Joel McNeely and Varese Sarabande. Now, how about a digitally remastered recording of the ORIGINAL soundtrack?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Herrmann's Famous Score Complete on CD, November 22, 2004

By	NMdesapio - See all my reviews

My favorite classic movie scores are Leonard Bernstein's for ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), Alfred Newman's for THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1959) - and Bernard Herrmann's for PSYCHO (1960). Herrmann composed his all-strings, "black-and-white" score at around the same time he wrote the hauntingly beautiful music for such memorable episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE as "Walking Distance" and "The Lonely." The parts of the extensive PSYCHO score that stayed with me most after seeing the movie for the first time were the "flight" theme (when Marion Crane, after having embezzled money, is fleeing in her car from the police); the "temptation" theme (heard as the camera focuses on the stolen money lying on Marion's bed); and, of course, the squealing violins of the two famous murders: Marion's (in the shower) and Detective Arbogast's (on the stairs). All of that music - and in fact, the entire movie score - is captured vividly in this 1996 recording by Joel Mc Neeley and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The recorded sound is spacious, the strings lush in the almost-Romantic "Marion" and "Marion and Sam" themes. So great is the PSYCHO score that it fully deserved this complete, modern recording. Let's hope that Mc Neeley and his orchestra record Herrmann's TWILIGHT ZONE themes, too.