Search - Dimitri Tiomkin :: More Music from The Fall of the Roman Empire (Original Soundtrack)

This is the CD version to own...

Gary Vidmar | Colorado Springs | 02/22/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This British import contains more of the score than the original, more expensive Varese Saraband album presentation. Upon completing the score for THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE in 1964, Dimitri Tiomkin selected, re-arranged and recorded representative pieces for inclusion on a commercial LP (Varese CD VSD-5228). However many sterling sequences were omitted from this collection, and some of the new adaptations deviated markedly from the score on the film track. Redressing this imbalance, this CLOUD NINE CD contains more original music from the film, although the original music masters for the film soundtrack were no longer available. A world-wide search was initiated, and some three years later, an excellent tape of certain cues was discovered - albeit in monaural sound. Although this find in no way constituted all, or the best of the full score, it contained some prime material and it was possible to draw additional selections from the music and effects track - including the original mix of THE FANFARES and PRELUDIUM, and the choral mix of the INTERMEZZO, all in stereo. All the available cues were then transferred to digital tape and subsequently edited, sequenced and equalized utilizing solely digital technology. All the cues on this CD, however, were not "limited" in any way, effectively preserving the braod acoustic gained during the original sessions at Shepperton Studios and the Central Hall at Westminster (where the massive pipe organ had to be warmed by an array of electric fires for two days to bring it up to concert pitch). On the final digital master, a healthy amount of tape noise has been maintained in preference to filtering and diminishing the upper registers of the score itself. Much of the music on this disc is being heard for the first time, and along with the other familiar re-recordings, are being presented in the relatively fresh guise of their original soundtrack performances. Tiomkin's approach is bombastic as usual, but there's such a fresh inspiration to this epic score that it's among the most precious of it's kind."