European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Orchestral Study Score of Bernard Herrmann's Music for North by Northwest Now Available

Jan. 25, 2023

A newly-published study score of Bernard Herrmann's music from the film North by Northwest is now available from Omni Music. Sixty years on, it is clear that Hitchcock's sleek thriller captured the spirit of 1950's America perfectly: urbane modernism, polite professionalism, and the looming threat of the Cold War. The film is a Technicolor marvel; colorful and visually stunning. The hero, played by Cary Grant, performs myriad death-defying feats, from evading a murderous airplane in a cornfield to avoiding capture atop Mount Rushmore. With familiar locales and attractive lead actors, North By Northwest is a feast for the eyes. Bernard Herrmann provided the treat for the audiences' ears.

The studio, MGM, originally wanted "Gershwin-esque" (a la Rhapsody In Blue), American city-music to accompany the opening sequence of a bustling New York. Herrmann felt this was too cliched and instead composed a dazzling, dizzying overture, described by the composer as "a kaleidoscopic orchestral fandango designed to kick off the exciting rout which follows."

The fandango perfectly encapsulates the wild dance between Cary Grant and his pursuers. The score, at times, features furiously shifting meters of 6/8 and 3/4, loud brass punctuations, and Herrmann's propensity for low, moody woodwinds. The love theme stands in contrast. This beautiful melody features a long, lovely tune for oboe and clarinet that allows the score to catch its breath, if only for a moment.

For the first time ever, musicians, music students, conductors - any music lover - can study North by Northwest in this durable, high-quality edition, carefully reproduced and edited from the original handwritten manuscript.


The London Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Bernard Herrmann, performs the Overture
from North by Northwest

To learn more about Bernard Herrmann, visit: schott-music.com.

Bernard Herrmann
Music from North by Northwest (1959)

News