CGAA: The Tune - Bernard Herrmann's The Day The Earth Stood Still

Film composer, Bernard Herrmann will be forever associated with the films of Alfred Hitchcock - and with Pyscho's infamous jarring strings in particular. I'm going to be showcasing Herrmann's work 'little and often' on the CGAA Blog, so you can expect 'death-by-violin' to feature soon enough.

I'm kicking things off with Herrmann's eerie and hugely influential score to Robert Wise's 1951 science-fiction classic The Day The Earth Stood Still. Herrmann utilised the theremin in his scoring for the film - an early electronic instrument now synonymous with 1950's science-fiction. It gives the composer's music a truly other-worldly sound. Just hearing this score makes me ache with nostalgia for a time when classic 1950's sci-fi would play on BBC 2 opposite the six o'clock news on BBC 1 - my first exposure as a child to flying saucers, robots - and the music of Bernard Herrmann.

Prelude/Radar

Gort/Visor/The Telescope

For more information about Bernard Herrmann and his work, go here.