Bernard Herrmann made Alfred Hitchcock and Hitch made Herrmann. Each pushed the other to the limit with Psycho. The main theme still has the ability to make neck hairs stand to attention; dizzying and menacing, yet wickedly seductive, it is the perfect accompaniment to Norman Bates. In signature style, Hermann’s score combines a gentle, sensitive touch with bursts of sudden violence. While variations on the main theme recur throughout, the orchestral melodies always retreat toward the same stabbing climax until finally attaining the atonal gasps of “The Knife.”
