Will “Psycho” Sale Pave the Way for a Long-Awaited Release?

The score to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho – that terrifying, string-based effort by Bernard Hermann – has entertained audiences the world over since the film’s release over 50 years ago. But it is one of the great crimes of catalogue music history that the original score as heard in the film has never been released on any format, be it LP, cassette or CD.

That may change, if a U.K. report is to be believed. From Brighton’s The Argus:

Psycho has one of the most iconic film scores in movie history and its grating, screeching strings have become the soundtrack of fear.

Now the film’s original film score could be yours for £50,000.

Norma Herrmann, the widow of the film’s composer Bernard Herrmann, has entered into negotiations with The University of California to sell the film score for £50,000.

Mrs Herrmann, who has lived in Brighton for the last 30 years, says that any sale would go towards producing a box set of her late husband’s compositions so that his legacy could live on.

Wow! While Psycho could certainly stand on its own on disc (and hopefully will), this is certainly encouraging news. Perhaps before the end of the year we’ll be closer to listening to Hermann’s original score and making sure all the doors are locked before running the shower.