Film Score Analysis Episode 1: Vertigo

Hear Neil Brand explain one of his favourite scores - the music for Hitchcock's VERTIGO

[@rbash]

Amazing, amazing exploration of Hermann's haunting and beautiful score for this, my favorite of all movies. Anybody who watches the film can't help but be affected by the music; but it's seeing it with new eyes - or hearing with new ears - to understand more about how and why it moves us so deeply. This is truly a gift for lovers of this movie. Thank you, Neil!

[@Michael_Underhill]

Incredible video! I was sad to see almost no videos analyzing the beautifully haunting score for this incredible film, but I'm glad that yours is the exception. You've made me appreciate even more one of my favorite film scores of all time. Thank you! I also loved how you described Herrmann as the "Master of Unresolution." It makes him the perfect partner for the "Master of Suspense."

[@SickVapeTricks]

Film Studies gang rise up

[@malafakka8530]

This is something that I have always been looking for; a more indepth understanding and analysis of music in a movie. Virtually all film critics' evaluations of music in a movie were as good as mine because they don't have the necessary expertise to tell us how and why music supports or enhances what is happening on the screen. We need more of this. Great video.

[@williamzavlaris4054]

Wonderful analysis of Bernard Herrmann's incredible score, thank you for all the musical insight. Without question the music is a major reason that this movie is so unforgettable and haunting almost three quarters of a century after its release.

[@DesignEcologies]

Thank you Neil. Beautifully presented

[@bck2mono]

Magnificent! Herrmann remains on the film scoring Mount Rushmore... a true giant. The deceptive simplicity of endlessly repeating phrases, with subtle variation is his trademark- and smashingly effective! He never will have the respect of the classical snobs... He doesn’t need it- his work is still performed around the world. Vertigo, Psycho, Citizen Kane, Day the Earth Stood Still, On Dangerous Ground etc etc have been endlessly imitated but never bettered.. Witness the remake of Cape Fear where Scorcese changed much- but not the score. When it can’t be bettered don’t try...

[@johnmcglynn4102]

Wow! Wonderful analysis! Thank you so very much! My favorite movie, and I never tire of hearing about it. What an extraordinary achievement it is! Thank you Mr. Hitchcock, Bernard Hermann, Sam Taylor, Mr. Stuart, Ms Novak, and Ms Bel Geddes...... This film will live forever!

[@Fanfanbalibar]

Thank you for not forgetting all who were part of this masterpiece !

[@tb4522]

Agree the love theme is amongst the most beautiful music written in the 20th Century, period. Not sure why Herrmann doesn't get the respect the deserves from the classical music community.

[@jslasher1]

Compose for the cinema and if you live in America you are immediately denigrated by the 'classical snobs'.

[@brunoantony3218]

Not an original theme, it’s a deliberate variation of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

[@JeanMichelGeorge]

There is something deeply satisfying, beyond being moved time and time again by a theme as gorgeous and haunting as this one, about finally understanding why and how it succeeds in doing so ... Resolution indeed :) … Thanks for that Neil !

[@Thespeedrap]

Vertigo music feels beautiful and chilling at the same time.

[@Fanfanbalibar]

That'sexactly what Vertigo is ! So.....

[@RobertoRuizPhilosophyMonkey]

Absolutely delightful video! Thank you for such a thoughtful and fun score analysis!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Fantastic. Love these. Do you think you'd be able to say exactly what the chords/harmony is in applicable places? Like the "two chords" that carry that opening for example? I expect most viewers are musical and would understand. Would be the icing on the cake. Thanks!

[@Casket1488]

Just recently watched Vertigo and Rear Window. They definitely don’t make movies like this anymore. Fantastic films

[@vickjr98]

Have you seen Psycho?

[@sungunewssgn9782]

Definitely one of Hitchcock's best films and of all time. The soundtrack contributed to this. Hitchcock was a demanding perfectionist.

[@phillipleconte3715]

how fitting it would have been if Hitch had invited Herrmann to join him in accepting his AFI Award. amazing score. this video is wonderful! thank you.

[@jslasher1]

Hitch was a pretentious little 'merde'. He owes the success of his films to Bernard Herrmann first and foremost.

[@Rebobina2]

"The only ones who wouldn't have been satisfied wolud have been us, the audience, because we like resolution"...So true!

[@tedgangersongs]

An excellent introduction to how music can work with film to create a masterpiece.

[@HeatherRagnars]

Neil, thank you so much for your videos! I was so happy to see there was more after watching "Sound of Cinema".

[@robertkapler6227]

Nicely done my friend. You gave me a deep understanding of the film score and the motifs behind it. I like your use of special effects in the video. I look forward to seeing more.

[@niklashelm]

Extraordinary Essay! The quality of your analysation and the Video is insane.

[@jaywbaker]

Only 22 comments (as of this writing)? Wow - wow - wow. Deeply insightful! I am not sure how I stumbled across this video but I am glad I did. Now I need to go work out the chords! This is "next level" interpretation.

[@joeallen5741]

This is great. I would love to see an equivalent for a John Barry scored movie

[@remuso287]

yes please!

[@edwardvogel9094]

A great composer, too.

[@LukeCorradine]

Absolutely brilliant review. Thanks Neil!

[@emilynightingale7758]

wow, this is so helpful. Thanks for uploading!

[@ErickMcNerney]

Absolutely love the use of tritone. Have always been fascinated by it.

[@jslasher1]

Think Maria from 'West Side Story'. C-F#-G.

[@DoctorOnce]

A great breakdown of my favorite movie score.

[@Mr.Dziej72]

This is a beautiful video, and your passion for the film really shines. I also love this film, and have written a great deal about it, in an attempt to uncover why I am so moved by it. I believe that Bernard Herrmann's favourite movie score amongst his many scores, was that of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", not "Vertigo".

[@SallySallySallySally]

There's no doubt about it. Herrmann's music is such an important part of the movie that it's tantamount to being a character by itself. The same can be said for his work for other Hitchcock films, such as North by Northwest. Even his catalog for CBS reflects his genius. I grew up in a musical household. My older brother was a prodigy who, by age 12, was playing in the local city's symphony orchestra. We even had Leonard Bernstein over to our house once for dinner when he was a "guest conductor" for the symphony. Almost every morning, I (and the rest of the household) would wake up to my brother practicing on the piano. Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, etc. You could say I was inculcated with a fascination of the art of composing music. I could never fathom how a person can just "come up" with such music! Where does it come from? All rhetorical questions, of course. Even now, many years beyond my childhood, I find myself still swept away by such thoughts. Why do I mention this? Because Bernard Herrmann's talent is in the same league. He was, in fact, one of the greatest composers to ever grace mankind. These Vertigo pieces -- how did he just "come up" with such works of art? LOL. I guess that's just one of life's mysteries. But all of our lives have been made better by the talent and efforts of such people.

[@copperdog]

great analysis of my favorite score and movie

[@TheBatNick2024]

Omg that sounds gorgeous on piano

[@Fanfanbalibar]

There is a one hour score for piano of the whole Vertigo music ! I've got a freind who played it and it was good!

[@thejimdoherty]

A very insightful look at this wonderful score.I must admit I listen to score many times every year, and watch the film probably twice a year. I never tire of the film or its incredible score. I had the great privilege of seeing VERTIGO a few years ago with the score performed live by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. A truly breathtaking experience. I was in tears at the end because to hear that music performed live had an unbelievable impact you can never get from a recording.

[@houstonsasselli6865]

Great work on this, brother.

[@timages]

One could ask the question, where would Hitchock's most famous pictures be, ( most notably Psycho and Vertigo), without the music of Bernard Hermann? I love that Neil Brand called this score one of the beautiful of the 20th century, for it certainly is. And when you consider how the music of Psycho has so throughly dominated an entire genre of filmmaking to this day, how much does Hitch owe this great composer? An interesting side note is how they eventually stopped work together, it was over a woman as well, actress Tipi Hedren. Hermann told his friend that Ms. Hedren wasn't the right fit for Marni, (another astounding musical score of his), and the film flopped badly. This angered Hitch, who deliberately created a controversy over the score of Marni, stating that it was the principal reason for the film's poor reception and fired Hermann, they never worked together again. Hermann saw the director's obsession with this actress, these two great artists had something else in common, they were less than ordinary looking men in an industry of beauty queens. They knew the pain of unrequited love, Vertigo is a testament to that.

[@JJBerthume]

Excellent!!!

[@franziskakre8309]

Bernard Herman knew his Wagner.

[@chrisjenkins9978]

Franziska Kreß - 😂🤣😂

[@CosmicStargoat]

Applause! Wonderful.

[@BadGuyRants]

Great film, score and video.

[@blackswan4486]

GREAT analysis!

[@becketnelson3601]

Do you happen to have sheet music for the way you play it I can’t find any that sound as good as your playing

[@SingHouse]

Really good analysis thank you

[@PlatoCave]

Masterful analysis like the master himself. Great tribute to music genius.

[@RanBlakePiano]

Fine points brough to our attention.wish I had heard your ideas before I recorded free version of my impressions

[@dimitrisnikoloulis4071]

Endeed , the rough atonal Habanera 2/4 dance rythm motif , was a brilliant idea from Bernard Hermann ! The whole soundtrack , is a atonal gem !

[@NumptyBots]

Fantastic video!

[@royalavera354]

Amazing video, thank you so much!!

[@ParanoidFactoid]

It is a beautiful score. Question: Do you hear a bit of Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot in the melody? It's not the same. Yet - to my ear - it evokes the same tone and melancholy. Am I nuts here?

[@PartySpock]

Fantastic.Really wonderfull film.

[@elephantfeeet]

If you're talking about the first 4 chords in the Prelude at 1:10 of 'Prelude & Rooftop' cue you're 4 chords are wrong (Also you're a half step up in "key" in your demonstration). It's a Ab(11)/Eb, Amin9, Cmin9, Cmaj7... and it continues onward. No repeat of the chord. Also, you didn't talk about the Tristan chord or any of the Tristan and Isolde harmonies which is super significant.

[@akisarkiniemi]

Great video!!

[@BuddyDean]

While practicing Ravel's "Un Barque sur l'Ocean" from "Miroirs", the climax of the piece seems to use those same opening chords that Hermann uses in Vertigo!

[@chrisjenkins9978]

Yep.

[@vickjr98]

Love this review

[@cinedeautor6642]

Great VIIDEO!!

[@Mazeppa6]

This is wonderful - only recently come across Vertigo and prefer the music to the film. Love the bust of Liszt in the background too....

[@jasperbhogal4953]

wow. that was amazing. just amazing.

[@scotthamilton007]

Correction: Herrmann’s personal favorite score was “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” not “Vertigo.”

[@adrianjohnson7920]

Ok, I'm going to go look for that one now. . . .

[@robertjewell2366]

Great analysis. I've a question to pose when you have a moment, Mr. Brand.

[@joshr.2600]

Excellent

[@alicethedestroyer1287]

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was Herrmann's favorite score

[@vickjr98]

Is that a Hitchcock film?

[@julianlobo91]

Fantastic, thank you

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

awesome text and review

[@amirsanjaricomposer9535]

thank you so much

[@edwardvogel9094]

The one and only Bernard Herrmann. The best.

[@deAlmeidaSS]

Amazing.

[@marcwayne9514]

Can’t help wondering what Paul Desmond and the.Brubeck quartet would have done with this.

[@outthe.yinyang]

really good movie

[@histubeness]

This is really great, but why is it titled as "Episode 1"? --Is there a 2nd continuation, or was this your first film score analysis? --Thanks?

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

aweesome

[@georgeanthony4834]

musik hus got notes and cords in it? i nebber knowed?

[@edbuller4435]

this is tricky as the vid playback is sharp...But in my score for this the 4 chords are....1,Ab...2,Am...3Cm.....4 Em ...No ?

[@mach254]

Oh Neillllll.

[@tomazvital1986]

Why is he playing a half step down??

[@WilliamHSimon-mb5my]

Brilliant.

[@Reprodestruxion]

Would love to hear this on guitar and electric guitar

[@jslasher1]

This is a sort of 'rough as guts' [Aussie colloquialism] explanation of Herrmann's modus operandi.

[@peachypaul64]

Bernard Herrmann scored 7 of Hitchcock's movies and Vertigo is probably his best. Hitchcock scholar, Paul Hyder, has this to say about the Vertigo score: 'Herrmann’s music to Vertigo is probably his most romantic and lush score that he composed for Hitchcock. In fact, if one listens to his score for Vertigo, one cannot but recall the Liebestod from Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. Liebestod, incidentally, is a German word that combines two ideas, love and death, in the same expression. Both Wagner’s opera and Hitchcock’s movie end with the death of a woman who is loved passionately by a man. Love and death stand at polar opposites of the emotional spectrum, but in Vertigo Hitchcock is able to fuse these two ironic elements so that they represent the ying and yang of the movie.' www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-Hyder/e/B0719HN5TB?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1617361256&sr=1-1

[@Theofficialfunny45]

11:42

[@brucer9572]

Are you smart, or what? How about a genius? Try that one on! Beautiful, beautiful.

[@ferabra8939]

Well, Psycho comes a very close second , is not even better, in the sense that it was more influential.

[@bobkosovsky1370]

The keys in which he's playing are all wrong. That's an important characteristic (which he totally ignores) because Herrmann had particular sounds as an idée fixe (especially the alternation between D major and A flat major at this point in his career). To describe everything as a "chord" is also mistaken as anyone who ever learned counterpoint knows.

[@jayrussell1825]

The volume levels on your commentary keeps fading out

[@Reprodestruxion]

Flores , Flores, Flores x los muertos

[@RanBlakePiano]

René Moncayo streetcar

[@marcallen4532]

Is it just me or is the sound set at a low level?

[@vanishingpoint7411]

would have been better to talk about the actual chords

[@bobbyokeefe4285]

Crap sound,for a vid about music.

[@jslasher1]

Not particularly good. Why not explain the chord structure, the use of contrary motion or superimposition of major and minor chords? Some of the images don't work either.