Hitchcock - Live!

The result? A blast!

For someone whose seen Hitchcock’s film over a dozen times, the Orchestra’s reproduction of Hermann’s score was just about flawless. Each cue was perfectly matched, each note was perfectly hit, and the music was beautifully realized; this is easily the best I’ve ever heard it sound. The atmosphere inside Prague’s Municipal House – probably one of the best places in the world to catch a classical music gig – only added to the experience, with Hermann’s score reverberating throughout the beautiful Smetana Hall.

The only recognizable difference in the score was one unusual (but intentional) choice: as Norman Bates races to Marion’s room following the infamous shower scene, Hermann’s soundtrack features a unique screeching stinger-like effect, while the Orchestra seemed to re-use a bit of the music from the shower sequence.

As conducted by Jan Kučera, the overall score was a note-perfect fit to the events onscreen. Not watching the musicians perform, I frequently had to remind myself that what I was hearing was being performed live, and not part of the original soundtrack. Roughly half of the film has no music at all, yet the introduction of the strings-only score from FOK into the mix was seamless (done less subtly, I could easily imagine it having a jarring effect). 

And while the Orchestra was amazing, the acoustics of the venue gave the film’s soundtrack – dialogue and sound effects – a hollow, echo-y quality. The sound from the film was also mixed too high: during the shower scene, the sound of running water and Janet Leigh’s screams nearly drowned out the Orchestra’s beautiful work. The Hall’s sensitive acoustics also led to some unwanted distractions, drawing attention to light chatter from audience members and activity in next-door rooms.