THE SYMPHONY GETS A LITTLE ‘PSYCHO.’

BECAUSE WE ALL GO A LITTLE MAD SOMETIMES ...

Beware, Houston. Hitchcock is in town, and he’s bringing quite a thrill with him.

On Friday, the Houston Symphony will the 1960 horror classic “Psycho” during its next Film with Live Orchestra concert at Jones Hall. As the motion picture plays on an overhead screen, guest conductor Francesco LecceChong will simultaneously guide an ensemble of musicians through Bernard Herrmann’s iconic strings-only score.

“Music and movies, for me, have always been two of my big passions, and it’s just great when they can come together like this,” said Lecce-Chong, who recently was appointed music director and conductor of the Eugene Symphony in Oregon. “The experience of the movie, especially an older movie, is really heightened with live music because audiences won’t have experienced that crystal clear sound that they are used to in modern movies.”

Lecce-Chong first worked with the Houston Symphony last July, leading a classical music sampler, “Symphonic Sights & Sounds,” at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The orchestra was quick to invite him back this fall, and the concert will mark his first time conducting “Psycho.”

The concept of conducting a live film score, which dates back to the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 1987 performance of “Alexander Nevsky,” is now a mainstay in the seasonal lineups of orchestras across the globe, and it has proven to be a great introduction for people who have never experienced the art form. Conductors are even specializing in this type of production, although many shy away from it out of fear of feeling pigeonholed into such a time-consuming, mechanical process, said Lesley Sabol, director of popular programming. “One of the conductors told me it’s about a 40-hour prep process per film,” she said.

First, the soundtrack is stripped from the film, leaving only the dialogue and sound effects. While directing the musicians, Lecce-Chong must also monitor timings written into the score that coincide with an analog clock that only he can see. Occasionally, he must adjust the tempo to stay with the pace of the movie, and in moments of split-second action, the music must be perfectly in sync with a character’s movement to achieve the desired level of suspense.

“It takes a lot of careful attention,” Lecce-Chong said. “But once you’re actually doing it onstage, it’s so worth it. It’s so rewarding.” For fans of the film, too. “Psycho” has a few scenes in which the music is soft and nearly inaudible. With the symphony playing live, the music throughout these scenes will reach a new level of clarity, increasing its sinister nature.

Interestingly, Lecce-Chong added, music only accompanies about half of the film, but when it’s present, it is there for a specific reason. “Hitchcock was well-aware of the power of music in a scene,” he said. “I think that’s honestly why the music is so impactful.”

From beautiful melodies to a sinister, almost electronic sound, the chilling score, Lecce-Chong said, is some of the most complex, minimalist and forwardthinking music he’s ever worked with. “If you were to perform this music in concert, someone would think it was written today,” he said.

The impact of the score, Sabol explained, is not truly realized until you hear the film without the music underneath all of the action, something she notices every time the tech crew runs a film prior to a rehearsal. “You’ll hear the dialogue and you’ll hear the sound effects, but the music is missing, and it’s like, why even bother,” she said. “The music connects everything together.”

Lawrence Elizabeth Knox is a freelance writer.