Search - Miklos Rozsa, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra :: Quo Vadis & Ben-Hur

Film score fans will enjoy this

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 07/07/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You probably know if you'll enjoy this before buying it since you've probably heard these selections before or heard short suites of the films on other Rozsa CDs. If none of that applies, this new 2-CD set constitutes about 40 minutes' music each from a pair of religious epics, "Quo Vadis" (1950) and "Ben Hur" (1957), with the composer conducting all the music that accompanied the films.



There are 12 selections from each film score; the music from each film is alloted one CD. Considering they could have gotten the entire thing onto one SACD or, by marginally increasing the speed of the recordings, onto one standard CD, this becomes something of an expensive proposition for barely more than 80 minutes of music.



Still, it is the original scores for the two movies, making these definitive recordings. Dutton Laboratories took the original London Phase 4 tapes and remastered them for these CDs. I did not notice much difference in terms of fidelity from the selections of "Ben Hur" and "Quo Vadis" I heard on Angel's "Film Scores of Miklos Rozsa" CD. The main advantage is completion, meaning the vocal scores with wordless choruses are also included.



The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus do the playing and singing. Alan Hamer of the Miklos Rozsa Society gives you five pages of notes on the production, Rozsa, and the scores. They give newcomers information about why this composer wrote such wonderful film scores during the golden age of religious epics on the big screen. The back page also includes a visual advertisement for other film scores available from Vocalion. All in all, fans of Rozsa won't be disappointed."

Terrific!

Steven Schwartz | Austin, TX USA | 08/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I second everything Larry wrote, except I give it five stars. For one thing, the original Ben-Hur soundtrack album is significantly bettered by the composer's remake on London/Decca -- better orchestra, better sound -- and add to this you get more of the score. Quo Vadis, probably less known, is an even bigger knockout of a score, and, again, you get more than stingy little excerpts. On the other hand, the two-CD price *is* annoying."

The Best of the Best

J. A. Retzer | Phoenix, AZ | 03/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first became aware of this recording in the mid-1980's when I stumbled across the LP version of the QUO VADIS score. It quickly became one of my favorites. I have searched and searched for it on CD ever since.



Rozsa's seminal score for this grand-daddy of all Biblical epics is one of the lost treasures of film scoring. From the massive chimes and chorus of the Main Title, through the crushing brass of the burning of Rome to the whispered chorus and organ of the finale -you could not ask for a better textbook introduction to the art of film scoring or the works of Miklos Rozsa.



This CD presents both the QUO VADIS and BEN HUR re-recordings on separate discs of this two-CD set. Both discs have a running time of about 44 minutes each -for a total of just over 88 minutes."