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•	2024 Album

The main theme for Faber in Eye of the Needle once again creates slow momentum for the kill in "Blondie's End/The Needle" and strikes more dramatic poses in the latter half of the cue. After meandering on low woodwinds throughout "Camouflage," the idea deliberately progresses without emotion in "Search on the Train" and "Escape/The Boat" as expected for the character. It emerges out of the love theme with devious restraint in "The Meeting," and the strings of the love theme shift to serve this one in "The Transmitter." Cyclically staggered at the outset of "The Fight," this main theme builds to a major action rendition, arguably the pinnacle in its prevailing battle with suspense, and a large percussive bang for the end of the scene leads to a relentless string statement. The idea reaches for accelerating panic in "Frantic Drive" and explodes at 1:53 into "Escape" to set up the final chase and confrontation. An extremely muscular horn outburst for the melody in the middle of "The Gun" leads to a staggered baseline during "The Axe" for the lurking presence of the spy. Highly agitated on brass amongst swirling flutes in "The Firebomb" and "The Hostage," it slows on low strings in "Retribution" for the obvious despair of Lucy and dies there, never revisited again in "Epilogue From Eye of the Needle." The love theme for Faber and Lucy is a standard Rózsa romance affair consisting of cyclical rising lines overlapping with tragedy, each one extending the melody tentatively forward with more yearning drama. There's nothing subtle about it, heard first at 0:47 into "Prelude" with flowing romanticism that reaches a monumental crescendo. It proceeds at the start of the unused "The Meeting" on longing clarinet, and it first punctuates the actual narrative on strings in "Love Scene" with an utterly massive, major-key resolution. This whimsical and most upbeat and charged rendition of attraction is still troubled at its core, and that uncertainty continues in "No Regrets" on woodwinds and slightly disturbed discord. Rózsa reaches for the same accessible tone but struggles a bit in "Heartbreak," and the love theme nearly achieves that same success in "Passion" but dissolves in another uncertain note at its end.

Deconstructed in the disturbing and frightening "Despair," the tortured love theme in Eye of the Needle is reduced to a battered state of denial on woodwinds in "The Broken Heart" and loses all its attractiveness in the massive ensemble abrasiveness of "Revulsion." It does try to recapture one last breath of life in the unused defeated cue "The Lamp" as Faber tries to explain himself to her. The idea dissolves into the other motifs in "Retribution" as appropriate but it achieves one last melancholy reminder on solo viola. The theme's controversial usage begins as it achieves its freedom in "Finale," and one might prefer that the composer had accessed the third theme, that for Lucy and David theme, as a liberation at this moment. Instead, Rózsa continues from the closing finale to open "Epilogue From Eye of the Needle" with gusto for the theme, a position too positive and overstated for the film, as it doesn't entirely work to resolve the bittersweet story. The final, completely unused theme for the woman and her disabled husband in Eye of the Needle is a pastoral, restrained identity reaching back to the style of Rózsa's earliest romances as well. Pleasantly attractive and innocent for string layers in "English Wedding," a tinge of the sad minor mode leads to a moment for oboe and bassoon carrying it with lovely, simple care in "Storm Island." This Lucy and David theme is reduced to solo viola with clear despair in the depressing "The Bedroom," barely survives in the somber solo string performance of "The Broken Heart," and continues to disintegrate at the start of the rejected "Revulsion." Of the lesser motifs in the score, a mission motif uses descending four-note phrases of high drama for the espionage aspect, sometimes as an interlude to the main Faber theme but at other times on its own. In full on brass at 0:33 into "Prelude," this idea is reduced to undercover sneaking in the first minute of "Camouflage," remains slight at 0:29 into "Search on the Train," and briefly stings several times on brass early in "Escape/The Boat." It punctuates the panic in the middle of "Frantic Drive," slows the pace amongst the Faber theme performances in "Escape" for a sense of importance (closing the cue as an ominous reminder of the inevitable), and stalks "The Hostage" on low strings.

Also among the secondary recurring ideas in Eye of the Needle is a mystery motif that stews with more obscurity, contemplating on low woodwinds and growling low brass in "The Boarding House," propelling the motion in "Realization," and quietly pushing the rhythmic anticipation in "The Axe." Additionally, a tension motif applies descending three-note phrases in a tumultuous, churning motion, heard on flutes over a sinister bass string line at 0:48 into "The Blond Agent" and lightly militaristic with snare in the middle of "Camouflage." This final motif punctuates Faber's other themes in "Pursuit" and "Confrontation," broods near the start of "Escape," helps strike the mood at the height of "The Gun," and gains some resilience in the middle of "Retribution." Overall, it's a highly engaging and accessible score from Rózsa, but it overplays its hand at the film's end. It's been released three times on album, all by Varèse Sarabande in limited form. The highly collectible 1991 and 2012 CD albums provided Rózsa's album recording that had occupied the original LP record dating from the film's release. That album recording in West Germany (as opposed to the main version recorded in London) is distinctly constructed in a few places, cutting or rearranging parts to suit the composer's preferences. Some orchestration is altered outright while other parts are simply mixed differently. Tempos are also changed at times, "English Wedding" far too slow to appreciate on the album version. The German recording mix is fuller but not quite as starkly vibrant, and the performance doesn't seem quite as sharp, interestingly. The film recording wasn't available to collectors on album until a definitive 2024 set from Varèse provided both versions on one product in a superior presentation. The label eventually discounted this offering to very attractive prices. Don't be surprised if you find yourself preferring the longer film version, as its sound quality and performance are better in some regards, and the narrative is complete. Rózsa wasn't reinventing his career at this point, but nobody was expecting him to. The only substantial detraction from that persistence is the bloated love theme at the conclusion to this score, which plays very well on album but doesn't entirely match the needs of the film as most of its characters lie dead.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ***
• Music as Heard on Album:  ****
• Overall:  ****