Miklos Rozsa/Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Mormon Tabarnacl Rozs - Rozsa: Three Choral Suites [Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, King Of Kings]

Title: Rozsa: Three Choral Suites [Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, King Of Kings] Artist: Miklos Rozsa/Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Mormon Tabarnacl Rozs Release Date: 4/2005 Re-Released On: 7/10/2007 Label: Vocalion Duration: 87:19 UPC: 765387433222 Genre: Soundtrack Styles: Soundtracks, Film Music, Original Score Moods: Elegant, Theatrical, Elaborate, Autumnal, Complex, Energetic, Lush, Bittersweet, Brash, Sophisticated Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 3 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 2

1. Quo Vadis, film score~Prelude
2. Quo Vadis, film score~Marcus and Lygia
3. Quo Vadis, film score~Fertility Hymn
4. Quo Vadis, film score~The Burning of Rome
5. Quo Vadis, film score~Petronius' Banquet - Meditation and Death
6. Quo Vadis, film score~Ave Caesar
7. Quo Vadis, film score~Chariot Chase
8. Quo Vadis, film score~Assyrian Dance
9. Quo Vadis, film score~Aftermath (Death of Peter - Death of Poppae - Ner
10. Quo Vadis, film score~Hail Galba
11. Quo Vadis, film score~Finale
12. Quo Vadis, film score~Epilogue

1. Ben-Hur, film score~Fanfare to Prelude - Star of Bethlehem - Adoration
2. Ben-Hur, film score~Friendship
3. Ben-Hur, film score~The Burning Desert
4. Ben-Hur, film score~Arrius' Party
5. Ben-Hur, film score~Rowing of the Galley Slaves
6. Ben-Hur, film score~Parade of the Charioteers
7. Ben-Hur, film score~The Mother's Love
8. Ben-Hur, film score~Return to Judea
9. Ben-Hur, film score~Ring for Freedom
10. Ben-Hur, film score~Leper's Search for the Christ
11. Ben-Hur, film score~Procession to Calvary
12. Ben-Hur, film score~Miracle and Finale

Year Type Label Catalog # 2007 CD Vocalion 4332

No other editions were found for this album.

Miklós Rózsa was known for many fine kinds of music across a composing career that lasted from the 1930s until the 1980s -- great orchestral works that ended up in the repertories of some of the top conductors of his day, including Bruno Walter, Charles Munch, and Leonard Bernstein; elegant movie scores associated with such high-profile, glittering productions as The Four Feathers (1939) and Madame Bovary (1952); and other scores woven around dark, often doom-laden crime dramas such as The Killers (1946) and The Naked City (1947). But if there was one category of music and movie score in which he commanded not only the screen but the affections of a large segment of the public beyond the ranks of serious filmgoers and cinéastes, it was religious films. Starting with Quo Vadis in 1951 and culminating at the other end of the decade with his music for Ben-Hur (1959), with the score for King of Kings (1961) virtually appended to the latter project, Rózsa's musical underscoring for religious films virtually defined the genre -- indeed, the choral sections of the Ben-Hur score took on a life of their own in university choir performances very quickly after the movie's release, and proved among the composer's most popular concert works. Near the end of his life, Rózsa began preparing new suites of the music for all three movies, but was only able to partly complete them before his death. The finished works are presented here, in state-of-the-art sound by Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir -- the performances are impeccable and, while there's no shortage of other recordings of this music, including those by Rózsa himself in the case of Ben-Hur and King of Kings (an expanded reissue of the King of Kings soundtrack was released but is now out of print and hard to find; there is something to be said for the composer's choices in these summaries of the scores. The sound is lustrous, and the performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is up to their usual extraordinarily high standard, but even the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra rises to the occasion. Additionally, for those who are set up for SACD and surround-sound, the Super-Audio version of this CD puts you right in the front row, in terms of spreading and reshaping the sound, and in even crisper, brighter terms. Additionally, the Quo Vadis material is especially valuable on its own terms, as no original soundtrack of that movie exists (the music session masters were damaged decades ago). ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Name Credits Michael J. Dutton Digital Remastering Miklós Rózsa Conductor National Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra Ray Few Producer Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra Stanley Goodall Engineer