SUITES FROM THE EPIC FILMS FOR ORCHESTRA, CHORUS AND ORGAN

MIKLÓS RÓZSA

Rating:

Original Review: Quite rightly, Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa is considered to be one of the all-time greats of film music. This compilation, released in 1986 and performed by the Hamburg Concert Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of Richard Müller-Lampertz, brings together the best bits of three of his most popular scores: Ben Hur, El Cid and King of Kings. Ben Hur, as we all know, is the most honoured film of all time, with nine Academy Awards, including one for Best Score. There are only four cues presented here: 'Prelude', which is a wonderful compilation of the film's main themes; 'Love Theme', a moving string-based piece; 'Victory Parade', a grand, proud march which is played after Judah's victory in the immense chariot race; and 'Miracle and Finale', Rózsa's powerful and lush conclusion to the film with the choir's alleluias resounding in the background. For a better review of this music, you should read my review of the full Ben Hur album. El Cid is similar to Ben Hur in many ways, but with a slightly Latin feel to the music. The Overture begins with a brass fanfare and then leaps into the main theme: a huge, epic brass and string march, but with a castanet percussion and a more than a little element of 'E Viva Espańa'. 'Palace Music' is actually a little peculiar, and sounds like the results of Rózsa being asked to compose some supermarket muzak - flutes with a Latin guitar accompaniment. The last El Cid track, 'Legend and Epilogue' has a definite ecclesiastical feel to it, opening with a theme played on an organ, which then bursts into life with swirling strings and a military brass march, closing with a heraldic, grand, almost operatic theme. The music for King of Kings has long remained largely undiscovered, but this album brings to life one of my favourite scores from the 1960s. The religious pictures of that era, like Ben Hur, King of Kings, Quo Vadis, The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Robe had amazingly beautiful scores, with Rózsa and Alfred Newman led the way in writing them. One of my greatest wishes would be to see the score from The Greatest Story Ever Told released on CD, but for now I'll just have to make do with this. King of Kings, as you would expect, is a 'typical' biblical score, with lots of searching strings, soft brasses and the mandatory angelic choir. The 'Main Title' is a glorious, full bodied theme, with tolling bells, fanfares and an obvious heraldic overtone, 'Nativity' is a reverent track, with a female choir and a soft, solemn orchestral piece; 'Salome's Dance' is a sexy, sultry, seductive track with an almost East European/Arabic-sounding influence, sort of like a belly-dance; 'Way of the Cross' is a deathly dirge, with laboured strings and deep brasses somehow managing to sound both beautiful and sickening at the same time, and the conclusion, 'Resurrection and Finale' seems to almost overload on emotional power, with the orchestra and choir reaching impossible, identical crescendos.

Track Listing:

EL CID BEN-HUR KING OF KINGS Running Time: 39 minutes 09 seconds

Varése Sarabande (1986)

Music composed by Miklós Rózsa. Performed by The Hamburg Concert Orchestra and Chorus. Conducted by Richard Müller-Lampertz. Recorded and mixed by W. Wille. Album produced by D. L. Miller.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1997. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.