Instrumentation: Saxophone, Saxophone, Trombone, Percussion, Electric Guitar, Piano
Duration: 7:00
Performers: Ensemble Klang
Commissioned by Ensemble Klang
Premiered at Dag in de Branding, Den Haag, the Netherlands, on May 28, 2011.
Score & Parts

Program Notes

Schizo Psycho is based entirely on material from Bernard Herrmann’s score to Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho. A 40-second clip of the movie plays repeatedly, with the ensemble providing different “personalities” on each repetition. All material is taken from the original score, but it is transformed in some way to create very different musical textures. Thus, I use some of the characteristic symptoms of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders as guiding principles in the arrangement of the musical material, creating both a play on words and a musical structure for the composition.