Romancing the stone ending For

Romancing the stone ending

For me, watching this film the first time was like taking a wild roller coaster ride at an amusement park and romancing the stone ending up those steep inclines and then down quickly with the wind blowing in your face like someone suddenly punched you. PSYCHO was full of shock em and sock em moments from two masters of movie suspense: Hitchcock and Herrmann. Love it or hate it, this is still the best movie thriller ever made. Because of the enormous appeal of this Hitchcock classic suspense thriller, there are many CDs with music from this film, either the complete soundtrack or a suite PSYCHO: A Narrative For Orchestra. Compilation Produced by Didier C. Deutsch and Dana G. Smart. Orchestras conducted by John Addison, Paul Bateman, Elmer Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, Muir Mathieson, John Williams. Theme from Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series The Wild Ride from NORTH BY NORTHWEST Bernard Herrmann PSYCHO A Narrative for Orchestra Bernard Herrmann Prelude from TORN CURTAIN Bernard Herrmann The Radiogram from TORN CURTAIN Bernard Herrmann A Portrait of Hitch from THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY Bernard Herrmann How appropriate that this CD compilation is now available for the centennial of Alfred Hitchcocks birth August 13, 1 The 100th anniversary of his birth was on Friday the 13th how appropriate!! This is a marvelous collection of great themes, 8 of theme previously unreleased, from some of the greatest film composers of the past 50 years. Included are both the familiar themes VERTIGO and PSYCHO and less available themes I CONFESS and REAR WINDOW. After the opening TV theme for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, there are two themes by Dimitri Tiomkin. Both are highly dramatic and romancing the stone ending sentimental but not particularly memorable. The next theme by Franz Waxman from REAR WINDOW track 4 is much more welcome, a swinging jazz combo theme. After some familiar tracks conducted by Bernard Herrmann tracks 5-7, there are several cues from his score to MARNIE which havent been released before. The Prelude track 8 has a theme which was adapted into a pop song recorded Nat King Cole. Its another of Herrmanns gloriously rhythmic themes, full of subtle changes of tempo and dynamics. The same can be said for the three tracks from TORN CURTAIN, all conducted by Herrmann himself. Just listen to John Addisons catchy pop-lite Main Title from this film track 10 and then hear Herrmanns unused Prelude track Herrmanns theme is far more impressive with the forceful brass 16 horns and woodwinds 12 flutes! firmly stating the theme. According to Steven Smiths notes, Hitchcock asked Herrmann to write a score for young audiences who were vigorous and demanding. Then there is the wonderful Main Title theme track 16 from a vastly underrated Hitchcock film, THE WRONG MAN. This track is expertly conducted by one of Herrmanns fellow romancing the stone ending and friends, Elmer Bernstein. Besides Tiomkin, Waxman, Addison and Herrmann, there are three other composers featured: Maurice Jarre in a sprightly March from TOPAZ track 14; Ron Goodwin an imposing London Theme from FRENZY track 15; and John Williams, who wrote the score for Hitchcocks last film, FAMILY PLOT. The End Credits Titles music track 17 is delightfully whimsical with its prominent use of harpsichord and strings, and is ideal for this clever comedy caper directed by the master of mystery, Alfred Hitchcock. The accompanying 16 page is not in the commonly overdone color schemes found in many other compilations. This one is in plain old black and white thank goodness! You can actually read the excellent notes written by Steven Smith, author of the biography of Bernard Herrmann. Also there are complete recording dates and film studio information. Soundtrack collectors will probably already have many of these themes. But even so, this is still worth buying to have such a wealth of outstanding themes and suites or, as the CD cover says: Signatures in Suspense. They have been skillfully put together as an appropriate tribute to that Master of Mystery, Alfred Hitchcock. A highly recommended compilation well worth adding to your collection. Bernard Herrmann was a supreme master of film music and today considered by many to be the greatest innovative film composer from the past. On the Essential Film Scores survey he is listed at No.