Alfred Hitchcock's 50 films in a 50-year-career — including the durably famous Vertigo, Psycho, Marnie, and a dozen others — also represented a pioneering and unparalleled use of music in movies.
A new reminder of the amazing group of composers Hitchcock recruited and featured prominently — including Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Miklos Rozsa, Arthur Benjamin, Alfred Newman, Maurice Jarre, and (young) John Williams — is the CD Music for Alfred Hitchcock, recorded by John Mauceri and the Danish National Symphony in Copenhagen's new concert hall.
Mauceri talked about the recording on Saturday with NPR's Scott Simon, calling attention to Herrmann's fascinating use of Tristan and Isolde's signature theme in Vertigo.
The recording also includes excerpts from Herrmann's score to The Man Who Knew Too Much, Waxman’s Rebecca, Tiomkin's Strangers on a Train, and many more.
An older NPR interview on the subject by Simon was with Jack Sullivan, about his book Hitchcock's Music:
For half a century Hitchcock created films full of gripping and memorable music. Over his long career he presided over more musical styles than any director in history and ultimately changed how we think about film music.Based on extensive interviews with composers, writers, and actors, and research in rare archives, Jack Sullivan discusses how Hitchcock used music to influence the atmosphere, characterization, and even story lines of his films.
Sullivan examines the director’s important relationships with various composers, especially Bernard Herrmann, and tells the stories behind the musical decisions. Covering the whole of the director’s career, from the early British works up to Family Plot, this engaging look at the work of Hitchcock offers new insight into his achievement and genius and changes the way we watch, and listen, to his movies.