North By Northwest
- August 8, 2006
- By Michael Kaulkin
- Category Shmategory
- 1 comment
As long as I’m kvelling about other bloggers, today I notice that Fredösphere shares my enthusiasm for Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, both the film and the score
Fred’s comparison with Philip Glass is valid, and that opening montage is a great combination of music and image.
I first encountered that “Overture” when I was in my teens. I was sitting at a piano playing some sort of noodley-noodley ersatz Philip Glass thingy, when a friend pointed out that it sounded just like the North By Northwest “Overture”, so I had to check it out.
Does anyone know if there’s a study score available, by the way? Some other Bernard Herrmann scores are out there, but I haven’t seen this one. I once did a fairly meticulous mental transcription of the basic material, but I’d love to see the real thing.
edward
Philip Glass has literally stoeln Herrmann’s inventions and originality. He directly uses pasages which form the main themes of his music and operas. Its not simply a debt to Herrmann, but Herrmann is Philip Glass. But Glass is such a cult icon that his mantle has been firmly established. I love Glass’s music, just wish I was older and heard Herrmann before Glass. I would then have been Philip Glass, whose name would have been Edward Petraitis, who studied music at Cambridge University with Alexander Goehr and Robin Holloway. As noble a musical heritage as Philip Glasses, hihi. Anyway, I think that more people should be aware of this ripp-off, theft of the minimalist century!