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Miklos Rozsa at M-G-M |
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Music Composed and Conducted by Miklos Rozsa Orchestrated by Eugene Zador Release Date: 1999
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Miklos Rozsa was one of the primary composers for M-G-M during what is generally considered to be the glory days of Hollywood. He composed scores for a wide variety of films between 1948 and 1962. During that time, Rozsa worked on several epic features such as Quo Vadis, Ivanhoe, and Ben Hur. With the exception of Quo Vadis, whose master tapes are missing, and Ben Hur, which already received its own expanded release, this two CD set presents extended suites of his many scores for the prolific studio. With the exception of the suites from Madame Bovary and Ivanhoe, the music is presented in stereo sound, though the overall sound quality is good, even for the monaural tracks. Though many of the films are period pieces, and thus tend to exhibit the same feel throughout, there are some terrific standouts. My absolute favorite is Valley of the Kings, due to my intense love of Egyptian style music. I really enjoyed hearing one of the first entries into this style. Throughout the CD, one gets a good indication that Rozsa knew what he was doing with thematic work, since he often incorporates his themes throughout the run of the suites. One major problem with this anthology is that there is one track for each film and the average running time per track is around ten minutes, with the longest suite topping out at just over twenty minutes. This makes it very hard for stop-and-go listeners like me as a lot of the music can only be fully appreciated by a full listen. Another minor gripe is that after a while it can get hard to distinguish individual tracks from one another and there is a general sameness to some of the scores. If the names Steiner, Newman, and Herrmann appeal to your musical ear just as much as Goldsmith, Williams, or Horner, then you’ll be in seventh heaven with this set. This is a good representation album of a classic film composer that no serious film score fan should be without. ****
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Track Listing - CD 1 1 - Madame Bovary (17:29) 2 - Ivanhoe (20:09) 3 - Knights of the Round Table (11:59) 4 - Beau Brummell (5:06) 5 - Valley of the Kings (13:25) 6 - Moonfleet (10:01) Total Running Time: 78:14 Track Listing - CD 2 1 - Green Fire (9:10) 2 - The King's Thief (10:10) 3 - Tribute to a Bad Man (10:37) 4 - Diane (10:00) 5 - Lust for Life (13:58) 6 - The World, The Flesh And The Devil (11:19) 7 - King of Kings (13:00) Total Running Time: 78:23 |
