★★★★☆ This tribute to a seminal cinematic collaboration offers a thrilling homage to two great artists.

Hamer Hall, Melbourne
February 6, 2016

Next to the film music giants of today – Williams, Elfman, Zimmer and Newman – Bernard Herrmann is a relatively obscure figure. But the prolific film music composer, best known for his collaborations with cinematic icon Alfred Hitchcock, could easily claim the right to be crowned the greatest ever master of music for the screen. Whilst he arguably never penned a melody as memorable as those of Williams’ scores for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, or as astutely tapped into the zeitgeist as Elfman’s theme for The Simpsons, Herrmann’s influence on film and television music transcends any specific contribution. His sophisticated and uncompromising approach to scoring films imbued this genre of composition with the enduring credibility that the present day masters of the art form continue to enjoy.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey, offered a snapshot of Herrmann’s brilliance with a potted history of the composer’s Hitchcock scores, considered by many as Herrmann’s most inspired work. In isolation on the concert platform, these pieces are in...