Ben Hur - the Essential Miklos [Import]

Who better to present the illustrious works of our composer than The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra...led by Kenneth Alwyn...Paul Bateman...Nic Raine...and the Crouch End Festival Chorus...Musical Director:David Temple...Silva Screen Records released "The Epic Film Music Of Miklos Rozsa"(SSD-1056) in 1996, a collection to be reckoned with...now with this 2-CD-Set, more complete with additional scores and some hard-to-find cues.

Let's look at the additional scores ~ "PROVIDENCE"(1927)..."THIEF OF BAGDAD"(1940)..."JULIUS CAESAR"(1953)..."BEAU BRUMMELL"(1954)..."SPELLBOUND"(1945)...the last selection was an Alfred Hitchcock project and Rozsa's romantic dark theme with overtones of a dreamlike mood that overtakes each passage, this became a classic and is still as fresh today as it was when originally released in the '40s.

If you don't own both releases from Silva Screen...you're missing what "film-score-buff" collectors crave, film scoring on the highest plain...not to mention the latest in recording technology "HDCD" and DOLBY SURROUND...just like sitting in the theater and watching your favorite classic from the past...one can only hope this Silva Screen Digital Film Scores Series will continue now and in the coming years, gotta love it!

Total Time: Disc One 52:19 on 10 Tracks & Disc Two 51:33 on 13 Tracks ~ Silva Screen Records SSD-1117 ~ (2000)

Silva's primary activity in recent years seems to have been repackaging old sountrack albums, throwing in a withheld track or two to make it seem "new" or to force the hand of completists (such as myself, I must admit, when it comes to the music of Miklos Rozsa) who absolutely must have every recording from their favorites, whether it deserves purchase on purely artistic merit or not.

This set is merely an expansion of Silva's "Epic Film Music of Miklos Rozsa" CD issued about three years ago. That disc had the virtue of including a selection from the composer's "GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD", properly instrumented for the fisrt time (unlike the original soundtrack), and one from the Main Title, and exceptionally moving Finale, from "BEAU BRUMMELL" (music Rozsa characteristically "ghost-wrote"to replace rejected parts of the score by the original composer, Richard Addinsell), previously unavailable commercially. They are included on this 2-disc set, though most of the other selections are available elsewhere, and in superior performances.

As always, Nic Raine and Kenneth Alwyn, with the City of Prague Philharmonic, deliver adequate but uninspired performances of Rozsa's music which, admittedly, is among the more difficult to perform among the works of major film composers.

In the final analysis, potential buyers or long-time afficianoados would be advised to spend their money on the splendid 2-CD set "Miklos Rozsa at M-G-M (Rhino), or the forthcoming 2-CD "KING OF KINGS," due this Easter from Rhino." Each is more expensive, but the former contains extended suites edited from the films' original soundtracks, many never before released commercially, all under the spirited baton of the maestro, himself, Miklos Rozsa, while the latter is a long-awaited definitive version of one of the composer's most challenging assignments and uplifting scores.