Yes, dear reader - I did a Rózsa rundown. I think the inspiration was the FB polls about it being the man’s birthday last month.

I own a lot of scores by the guy, so that’s great. But it also meant this was going to take FOR. EVER. Not, like, Goldsmith collection rundown forever. But pretty close!

Random thoughts
- Ivanhoe tends to get left out of the conversation on Rózsa’s big epics of the 50s and 60s; consider how the “core 4” got grouped together on the man’s “Conducts His Epics Scores” album in 1967. Pity, as the duo of ‘The Battlement’ and ‘Saxon Victory’ blows most action music from the era out of the water (heck, they blow a lot of today’s action music away). https://open.spotify.com/album/28q8oVfzwpgJCBZGH5eFl0?si=ccc41cdb539e4f4f

- Similarly, The Red House tends to get left out of the conversation on Rózsa’s psychological thrillers of the 40s (Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, etc.). Pity, as it’s better than all of them. http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7847/.f

- The series of Polydor recordings Rózsa did in the mid-70s, arguably the only CD “holy grail” remaining for me, sounds so good that I can’t help but wonder if some of Rózsa’s 1950s works would get better ratings if they had better performances or more recent rerecordings, especially Knights of the Round Table which sounds, like, FINE ENOUGH in two recordings from 1953 but sounds nearly as good as Ivanhoe when done by the RPO.

- Speaking of 1953...DEAR GOD. It rivals Goldsmith’s 1982 and 1985 for the best year a film composer’s ever had.

- For those not in the know, be warned that Rózsa’s style is very consistent. Even works that were informed by months of research (El Cid in particular) are still super-saturated with the composer’s usual mannerisms. In almost every case this is an asset, though in his mid-to-late career some works started to sound overly familiar - The V.I.P.s.; The World, The Flesh, and the Devil; and especially The Seventh Sin, with its main theme a near-lift from a prior year’s work.

- The familiar approach became a bit more forgivable with his handful of late career dramas where filmmakers were intentionally employing him to provide a throwback sound. In a way things came full circle, with his hard-edged noir tones from the 40s informing things like Eye of the Needle and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid.

- The exception to the late career throwbacks…TIME. AFTER. TIME. Remarkable. The finale track remains one of the highlights of his career. https://youtu.be/bJULthho6p4?t=2151

- Still, if you’re like CK and aren’t a huge fan of the composer’s weighty, angular, occasionally Hungarian folk-inflected style, it’s hard to recommend content that sounds truly different AND is readily affordable; The Light Touch and Something of Value are both VERY off the beaten path (the former essentially a small Italian band, the latter mostly tribal vocals) but also part of the OOP Rózsa Treasury.

- Gosh, that title song from Green Fire is so campy.

- Look here for some funny quotes from Rózsa about working with John Wayne on America’s only pro-Vietnam War movie: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=1&pageID=2&threadID=74690&archive=0

- It feels harsh giving The Twelve Choruses less than ****, especially since Intrada’s recent recording fixed the terrible sound quality that plagued the original 1960s recording. But that work puts me to sleep. It would probably play better live. While it’s perhaps too much to expect a CD of “sacred music” to be amenable to any member of our thoroughly debased forum, I still fully expect this to trigger the members of the religious right who frequent this place.

- It is somewhat amazing that A Double Life, a score by Rózsa that won the Oscar for best score, has yet to be released in any form (outside of the one track on the Polydor series). But then the music is for a film that has faded from public consciousness. And I’m reminded of James Fitzpatrick’s usual response to these queries…”hey, if you have $80,000 sitting around and wanna give it to me…”

- This runthrough was not comprehensive. I avoided listening to Crisis and Bhowani Junction. They’re interesting experiments, but also poor standalone experiences. I also skipped the redundant 'Kloss 1' LP recording of Ben-Hur, the archival LP recording and music & effects program of Quo Vadis, and the aforementioned snooze-inducing original Twelve Choruses recording.

- I realized this week that there are a lot of MR concert works I haven’t heard. So...“it goes on, Judah. The race is not over.”

The ratings along with the albums I explored over the last 1.5 months
*****
1. Ben-Hur (1959) - Savina LP recording + Kloss 2 LP recording + Decca rerecording + FSM film recording + Tadlow rerecording
2. El Cid (1961) - FSM Rózsa Treasury LP recording + Tadlow rerecording
3. Quo Vadis (1951) - Decca rerecording + Prometheus rerecording
4. Ivanhoe (1952) - Rhino film recording + Intrada rerecording
5. King of Kings (1961) - FSM Rózsa Treasury LP recording + Rhino film recording + FSM Rózsa Treasury “with choir” tracks + Tadlow rerecording
6. The Thief of Bagdad (1940) - VS suite recording + Bernstein FMC rerecording + Chandos suite recording + Prometheus rerecording
7. The Red House (1947) - Intrada rerecording
8. Time After Time (1979) - Southern Cross reissue of Entr'acte LP recording + FSM film recording
9. Spellbound (1945) - Intrada rerecording
10. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) - Quartet 50th Anniversary film recording + Tadlow rerecording

****˝
11. Knights of the Round Table (1953) - FSM film recording
12. Sodom and Gomorrah (1962) - Prometheus rerecording
13. The Lost Weekend (1945) - Intrada film recording + Koch rerecording
14. Double Indemnity (1944) - Intrada film recording + Koch rerecording
15. All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
16. Young Bess (1953) - FSM Rózsa Treasury + Bernstein FMC rerecording
17. The Power (1968) - FSM Rózsa Treasury (this was the only work to significantly climb; that bonkers gypsy theme is absurdly catchy)
18. The Jungle Book (1942) - FMS film recording + VS suite recording + Chandos suite recording
19. Madame Bovary (1949) - FSM Rózsa Treasury (partial M&E) + Bernstein FMC rerecording
20. Lust for Life (1956) - DC reissue of Decca suite recording + FSM film recording
21. Julius Caesar (1953) - FSM film recording + Intrada rerecording

****
22. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) - Intrada
23. Moonfleet (1955) - FSM
24. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) - Kritzerland
25. The Four Feathers (1939) - RCA suite recording
26. Diane (1956) - FSM (this rated higher when I discovered it last year, but it got docked a half star for its flat recording and for coming on the heels of a lot of other similar costume drama music)
27. The Story of the Three Loves (1953) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
28. A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958) - DC reissue of Decca program
29. Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) - FSM
30. Plymouth Adventure (1954) - FSM
31. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) - Prometheus Miklós Rózsa Film Music Vol. #2
32. Valley of the Kings (1954) - FSM
33. Providence (1977) - Digitmovies
34. Men of the Fighting Lady - FSM
35. Fedora (1979) - Varčse Encore Edition LP recording
36. Eye of the Needle - Varčse Encore Edition LP recording

***˝
37. Green Fire (1954) - FSM
38. Five Graves to Cairo (1943) - Intrada
39. Sahara (1953) - Intrada suite recording + Chandos suite recording
40. Last Embrace (1979) - Varčse rerecording
41. Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
42. Desert Fury (1947) - Intrada
43. The V.I.P.s (1963) - FSM Rózsa Treasury LP recording
44. The Man in Half Moon Street (1945) - Intrada available film tracks + Intrada rerecording
45. The King’s Thief (1955) - FSM film recording + Marco Polo suite recording
46. The Light Touch (1952) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
47. The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977) - Citadel
48. Something of Value (1957) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
49. So Proudly We Hail! (1943) - Intrada
50. The World, The Flesh and the Devil (1959) - FSM
51. The Green Berets (1968) - FSM

***
52. The Red Danube (1949) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
53. The Seventh Sin (1947) - FSM
54. Blood on the Sun (1945) - Citadel
55. The Killers (1946) - Koch rerecording
56. Beau Brummell (1954) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
57. Crest of the Wave (1954) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
58. The Miniver Story (1950) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
59. The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) - Intrada

Not rated
- The Asphalt Jungle (1950) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
- A Double Life (1947) - suite from Polydor series
- East Side, West Side (1949) - FSM Rózsa Treasury
- Knight Without Armour (1937) - suite from Polydor series
- Lydia (1941) - Citadel piano suite + Polydor suite + as part of Varčse New England Concerto performance
- The Naked City (1948) - suite from Polydor series
- Time Out of Mind (1947) - as part of Varčse New England Concerto performance
- The Woman of the Town (1943) - Intrada

Anthologies by Rózsa
- 1963: Great Movie Themes Composed by Miklós Rózsa (1963) - FSM Rózsa Treasury (Rózsa: Rome Symphony Orchestra) ****
- 1967: Miklós Rózsa Conducts His Epic Film Scores - DRG reissue of Capitol Records album (Rózsa: Nuremberg Symphony) ****
- 1975: Miklós Rózsa Conducts His Great Film Music - Polydor (Rózsa: RPO) *****
- 1976: Miklós Rózsa Conducting The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Polydor (Rózsa: RPO) *****
- 1977: Rózsa Conducts Rózsa - Polydor (Rózsa: RPO) *****

Anthologies by others
- 1975: Spellbound: The Classic FIlm Scores of Miklós Rózsa - RCA (Gerhardt: NPO) *****
- 1984: The Music of Miklós Rózsa - Varčse (Bernstein: USO) ****
- 1985: Miklós Rózsa: Hollywood Spectacular - Bay Cities (Padberg: RPO) ***˝
- 1987: Miklós Rózsa: Hollywood Legend - Varčse (Bernstein: Nuremberg Symphony) ****˝
- 2005: Three Choral Suites - Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, King of Kings - Telarc (Kunzel: Cincy Pops) ****˝

Concert recordings
- 2016: Epic Hollywood: The Music of Miklós Rózsa - Tadlow (Raine: CoPP) ***** (imagine if ALL of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad sounded this good!)

Orchestral albums
- 1956: Violin Concerto - Quartet reissue of RCA recording (Hendl: Dallas Symphony - feat. Jascha Heifetz) *****

- 1993: Theme, Variations and Finale / Hungarian Nocturne / Three Hungarian Sketches / Overture to a Symphony Concert - Koch (Sedares: NZSO) *****

- 2000: Violin Concerto / Cello Concerto / Theme and Variations for Violin, Cello and Orchestra - Telarc (Levi: ASO - feat. Robert McDuffie & Lynn Harrell) ****˝

Sacred music
- 2014: The Twelve Choruses / The Twenty-Third Psalm - Intrada (Wilson: Winchester Chamber Cathedral Choir) ***1/2

Not going to lie, I literally LOL'd at the title of your post.

It may have had something to do with the vodka...

(Message edited on Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 3:28 p.m.)

> While it’s perhaps too much to expect a CD of “sacred music” to be amenable to any member of
> our thoroughly debased forum, I still fully expect this to trigger the members of the
> religious right who frequent this place.

Funny that I'd react to this particular part...HELLO?! Catholic CK doesn't quite know what to make of this, but in any case would feel amenable to sacred music. If in need for at least one recommendation that "even" a film music hard(s)corer would appreciate, both from classical composers or those who also dabbled in film music (but aren't named Rózsa), do let me know.

Turns out...a friend in Calgary (who isn't named Riley) once let me copy the Rózsa Treasury. Turns out further...there's a folder with the name on it, but no files inside. Must've deleted themselves for knowing what kind of pain listening to them would inflict on me...

> Funny that I'd react to this particular part...HELLO?! Catholic CK doesn't quite know what to make of this, but in any case would feel amenable to sacred music. If in need for at least one recommendation that 'even' a film music hard(s)corer would appreciate, both from classical composers or those who also dabbled in film music (but aren't named Rózsa), do let me know.

LOL fair. That was more a cheap joke at the expense of the average (median?) member. You are the only person from this board I've seen anywhere near a church; I imagine some of the others would burst into flames if they tried that.

But there's a difference between, say,
- A German Requiem by Brahms or Belshazzar's Feast by Walton or Too Hot to Handel or The Kingdom by Elgar or most other typical 'religious' classical pieces
AND
- The measured pace and quiet, sometimes mournful to.....

(falls asleep)

...nzzzz wait, what we were we talking about? Oh, right, the absence of any sense of drama or energy in the Twelvzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

> Turns out...a friend in Calgary (who isn't named Riley) once let me copy the Rózsa Treasury. Turns out further...there's a folder with the name on it, but no files inside. Must've deleted themselves for knowing what kind of pain listening to them would inflict on me...
That's funny!

If I'm being honest, the Treasury has a lot of odds and ends (heck, look at my ratings for some of the scores on there). I get that there was not gonna be much of a market for, say, a standalone release of The Light Touch. Still, maybe only 5-7 discs worth of content are truly essential.

If your friend really wanted to troll you, he would've just shared the other 7+ discs of music.

Prefatory note: I've been presented with a bottle of Munich-made gin, and I'm half-way into the first tumbler of this Friday's Gin 'n Tonic. I may have overdosed on the gin. But boy is it ever so good!

'roo, quit it.

Second prefatory note: by coincidence (or not), I'm currently finishing up with the RCA Rózsa compilation. Which, ironically, I like a lot.

> LOL fair. That was more a cheap joke at the expense of the average
> (median?) member. You are the only person from this board I've seen
> anywhere near a church; I imagine some of the others would burst into
> flames if they tried that.

*changes profile pic because of this* I wouldn't consider myself overly religious, I wouldn't even be able to name all of the Ten Commandments AND in order, but I did have a Catholic upbringing and love church buildings. To be certified Catholic, I guess I'm also too gay and masturbated too much during my teenage years (thereby making Jesus H. Christ sad). As I said, there's Gin 'n Tonic involved this afternoon.

> But there's a difference between, say,
> - A German Requiem by Brahms or Belshazzar's Feast by Walton or Too Hot to Handel

"Too Hot to Handel"...what are YOU having right now, eh?

> or The Kingdom by Elgar or most other typical 'religious' classical
> pieces
> AND
> - The measured pace and quiet, sometimes mournful to.....

> (falls asleep)

> ...nzzzz wait, what we were we talking about? Oh, right, the absence of
> any sense of drama or energy in the Twelvzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Funny Jon Bl. is the best Jon Bl. (intermediate note: still so glad to have had the chance to meet you. We really ought to strive for a repeat once this entire mess is over...I also wanna see my relatives out near Woodstock one more time before...y'know...)

> That's funny!

I was actually a bit disappointed, because I wanted to investigate the choral King of Kings tracks you had mentioned. I mean, that one's about my favourite MR score (it and El Cid frequently trade places), and to hear that there are choral versions of certain tracks can only tip the scales in its favour, amirite?

> If I'm being honest, the Treasury has a lot of odds and ends (heck, look
> at my ratings for some of the scores on there). I get that there was not
> gonna be much of a market for, say, a standalone release of The Light
> Touch. Still, maybe only 5-7 discs worth of content are truly essential.

I'm always in favour of such things being made available at all. I know that an item like this caters to a VERY specific group of film music fans, and wouldn't make FSM any profit, but this way, the music has been presevered and made available to those who really dig any kind of Rózsa.

Off-colour note of no importance but to the 'roo and I: a large number of gay porn stars also hail from Hungary. They should re-do Ben-Hur in a gay way, but with Rózsa's score intact. *vaguely gestures at now half-empty Gin 'n Tonic glass*

> If your friend really wanted to troll you, he would've just shared the
> other 7+ discs of music.

I swear I had the entire thing copied, all 15 discs. Either I threw them out to...hang on...*goes to check another external hard drive*...nope, all gone. OK, let's check the online liner notes of the set (which I did download for some reason)...are you aware of them? http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/fsmbox04_notes.pdf

Boy howdy, now the gin is really kicking in...good thing you hadn't written anything else after this point, because replying to you in a foreign language (and hopefully without typos!) is becoming quite the task now...

Ta & tata,
CK

PS: 'roo, shuddup. Go watch some gay porn featuring Hungarians...Kris Evans, to be exact.

> PS: 'roo, shuddup. Go watch some gay porn featuring Hungarians...Kris Evans, to be exact.

LOL, I don’t know whether to be relieved or concerned that our taste in men is so different. Kris Evans looks like he would accidentally break every bone in my fragile body while he’s having his way with me. So I think I’ll stick to my twinks, and being the one having his way with them, thanks very much!

> Second prefatory note: by coincidence (or not), I'm currently finishing up with the RCA Rózsa compilation. Which, ironically, I like a lot.

> 'Too Hot to Handel'...what are YOU having right now, eh?
I was stone cold sober at the time I wrote that, and unlike, say, last week Friday, didn't get dead drunk later in the day...womp womp.

That's not a joke thing though...the gospel take on Handel's Messiah is a blast.

> I was actually a bit disappointed, because I wanted to investigate the choral King of Kings tracks you had mentioned. I mean, that one's about my favourite MR score (it and El Cid frequently trade places), and to hear that there are choral versions of certain tracks can only tip the scales in its favour, amirite?
It could, but you shouldn't need the Treasury here. The recent Tadlow rerecording included the choir on those 4 or so tracks.

> I swear I had the entire thing copied, all 15 discs. Either I threw them out to...hang on...*goes to check another external hard drive*...nope, all gone. OK, let's check the online liner notes of the set (which I did download for some reason)...are you aware of them? http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/fsmbox04_notes.pdf
I think you thinking I didn't know about the notes despite owning that box for over a decade is perhaps the best indication you were having a high-quality Friday night.

> PS: 'roo, shuddup. Go watch some gay porn featuring Hungarians...Kris Evans, to be exact.
I'll pass. But it was amusing to see this generate a follow-up comment from someone else, one that leans dangerously close to Jim Ross WWE 'as God as my witness, he is broken in half!' territory.

> I was stone cold sober at the time I wrote that, and unlike, say, last
> week Friday, didn't get dead drunk later in the day...womp womp.

I wanted to make an off-hand-yet-funny-and-not-in-the-slightest-insulting-sounding joke here, but every single attempt failed, so...still, the thought of you drunk is entertaining.

> That's not a joke thing though...the gospel take on Handel's Messiah is a blast.

Well, there goes that insinuation!

> It could, but you shouldn't need the Treasury here. The recent Tadlow
> rerecording included the choir on those 4 or so tracks.

See, here's my dilemma...I've cut down on acquiring new stuff (both on the current output and on re-recs and/or deluxidations), and as much as I want to support James F. and his endeavours, the 2.5-hours Rhino release is all I need of King of Kings. But I guess my "argument" about what's being the point in these admittedly glorious-sounding re-recordings of, say, Ben-Hur or The Blue Max if there are multiple fine releases already existing over historic scores where there aren't? (Don't ask me to name names, because...I can't.)

That being said, I do own the re-recs of Quo Vadis and The Thief of Bagdad, do enjoy them and am aware of the implicit contradiction with my yammerings about MR.

It's a complicated affair, what can I say?

> I think you thinking I didn't know about the notes despite owning that box
> for over a decade is perhaps the best indication you were having a
> high-quality Friday night.

I keep forgetting that besides old Film Music Grandpas like myself, there are plenty not-as-old Film Music Uncles with a degree in Knows-Film-Music-Minutiae-Like-Few-Others. My apologies, Jon.

> I'll pass.

My apologies, that "recommendation" was solely aimed at said 'roo...who, as I am well aware, probably didn't need any to begin with.

> But it was amusing to see this generate a follow-up comment from someone else, one that
> leans dangerously close to Jim Ross WWE 'as God as my witness, he is broken in half!'
> territory.

I can always count on Michael to be a good sport and happily join into this non-sequiturs. That triggered a memory of a scene in Men in Black. Which was scored by Danny Elfman, whose score to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I listened to earlier today. Man, I do love it when posts generate unintended and unlikely cross references!

Unrelated: @Edmund, if you make it to the northern Midwest in the foreseeable future, do try to arrange a meeting with Film Music Uncle Jon Bl. here. You won't regret it.

CK

> See, here's my dilemma...I've cut down on acquiring new stuff (both on the
> current output and on re-recs and/or deluxidations), and as much as I want
> to support James F. and his endeavours, the 2.5-hours Rhino release is all
> I need of King of Kings. But I guess my 'argument' about what's being the
> point in these admittedly glorious-sounding re-recordings of, say, Ben-Hur
> or The Blue Max if there are multiple fine releases already existing over
> historic scores where there aren't?

> CK

The Unrecorded cues (some of which were replaced with revised versions containing lifted material?) and full versions of lost/damaged cues?

> Unrelated: @Edmund, if you make it to the northern Midwest in the
> foreseeable future, do try to arrange a meeting with Film Music Uncle Jon
> Bl. here. You won't regret it.

I'd love to!