5 Greatest Film Scores Of All Time

3. Psycho - Bernard Herrmann

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMTrVgpDwPk The first score on here by the legendary Bernard Herrmann and certainly not the last. Herrmann is most known for his work with Hitchcock, but he's scored such classics as Citizen Kane, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and a host of De Palma films as well as some of The Twilight Zone. Herrmann's music for Psycho sets the mood brilliantly and never lets up. His use of only string instruments highlights the black and white photography of the film excellently while also giving a creepy, sparse sound to the movie. Nowhere is Herrmann's score more prevalent than in the infamous shower scene. Hitchcock himself didn't want music for the scene, but admitted he was wrong when Herrmann played the music for him. The shower scene would have never been as legendary without the score and it's still one of the most effective moments in all of film. The way Herrmann used the strings to accentuate the stabbing of Marion Crane is absolutely cringe worthy but also darkly beautiful.