Last night, the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra performed a concert called "here's to Hitch! A Musical Celebration of the Films of Alfred Hitchcock."Yes, that Bakersfield.
John Farrer was conductor. Ms. Tippi Hedren was master of ceremonies.
They featured a short clip from the featured films (most, if not all were sadly from the last scene, spoiling the film for those who haven't seen these classics), and then the orchestra would perform selections from the score.
It was wonderful to Ms. Hedren, and at the same time sad, because she certainly showed her age, rambling on and on about things she remembered about shooting The Birds and Marnie with Hitch, reminding one of sitting in your grandparents living room when you're rather be out playing. At one point, she even skipped to the next selection on the program after introducing one, skipping right over the film clip and the orchestra's performance. The conductor had to walk all the way across the stage and tactfully whisper in her ear that she was moving along too fast, to which the embarrassed Hedren quipped, "Well...perfect is boring."
The program opened with Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod.
The rest were as follows:
North by Northwest (Overture and Finale)
Strangers on a Train
Torn Curtain (Bernard Herrmann's unused score - Prelude, Gromex, and The Killing)
Marnie (Prelude, The Hunt, The Street, and Blood)
INTERMISSION
The Man Who Knew Too Much (Arthur Benjamin's Storm Clouds)
The Birds (just the film clip)
Psycho (Prelude, The Bathroom, The Murder, and Finale)
Vertigo (Prelude and Rooftop, The Nightmare and Dawn, and Scene d'Amour)
It was a rousing performance, and one not to missed if you've never heard these fantastic scores performed live. I wish Ms. Hedren had kept more to a script. She was fun to listen to at first, but after a while it even looked like John Farrer was getting impatient to showcase the purpose of the evening's entertainment: the orchestra...instead of out of place anecdotes about her daughter, Melanie Griffith, her charity, or her wandering memories.
JC
