:
(Miklós Rózsa) Few composers have held the level of power
and respect within the industry as Miklós Rózsa, whose
talents were so admired throughout the Golden Age that he controlled
much of his destiny despite working at the height of the
studio-dominated system. When he finally buckled to the pressure of
signing with a single studio --a requirement for composers who wanted
regular work on major projects in the 1950's especially, with the era of
independent studio work rapidly on the decline-- Rózsa was able
to secure a contract from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (which he considered to be
the best of the studios) that not only allowed him to continue teaching
at USC (an occupation he held for two decades), but also gave him the
opportunity to withdraw to a small Italian village to compose concert
works each summer. This was an astounding level of control for a
composer to have at the time, and Rózsa was able to negotiate
those terms because he was simply regarded as the best composer in film
at the time. He is still today considered by most film score historians
to be the most accomplished Golden Age composer, and others would
continue to vouch for his potential title as the best film composer of
all time. With a career that spanned 40 years and hundreds of scores,
Rózsa interspersed his writing for M-G-M projects over two
decades, and his work was exclusively for M-G-M films for one of those
decades. It was during those years of writing specifically for M-G-M
that Rózsa became the master of the historical epic. Whether the
film involved the massive, expansive vistas of crusading warriors or the
lavish snobbery of the more modern period piece, Rózsa rarely
chose to write for films set in contemporary times (and his right to
choose his assignments was another unique aspect of his relationship
with M-G-M).
Rózsa's compositions, for M-G-M and beyond, are
typically considered accessible even for the modern film score fan, and
the Rhino Music Group and Turner Classic Movie Music teamed up to make
his compositions even more accessible, in a more literal sense, with an
enormous tribute set to the composer in 1999. A long-awaited and
much-hyped album, this 2-CD "Miklós Rózsa at M-G-M" set
offers two and half hours of music that Rózsa composed
specifically for the studio's historical films, with the exception of
one entry for a contemporary subject matter. The set was a dream come
true for collectors of the composer, presenting a well-produced,
spectacular tour of twelve years of this successful collaboration. While
most digital age film score collectors either dismiss the Golden Age
entirely or view it with a respectful, but tepid level of interest, the
only significant difference between scores of the 1950's and those of
the 2000's is sound quality. There are some procedural differences as
well (relating mostly to how scores are accomplished in the digital age,
and the computers that revolutionized that process), but if you can
transcend those differences, you'll discover what magic lies at the
roots of modern film music. This especially applies to Miklós
Rózsa, who, like many other composers of the era, spent a good
deal of time also writing impressive concert pieces. Unlike many others,
however, Rózsa did not draw a distinct line between his concert
works and film scores, which causes his film compositions to sound much
like classical concerts in the same way that John Williams has managed
to accomplish in more recent times. This classical influence, as well as
his attention to melody and grand orchestration, makes Rózsa's
music more easily listenable outside of the films it accompanies. The
archival audio quality of his scores, sometimes in mono but usually in
stereo, is counterbalanced by the sheer size and epic scope of the
compositional structures.
This 2-CD product covers both the mammoth religious
epics and romantically heavy dramas, and all of the scores represented
feature the same, classically rich Rózsa touch. With ten minutes
from almost every selection, the compilation provides one of the best
surveys of a film composer ever to be released. The two notable absences
in the historical M-G-M department for Rózsa,
Ben-Hur and
Quo Vadis, have their reasons for not appearing here.
Ben-Hur received a stellar 2-CD release of its own from the same
label and producers a few years prior, and no excerpt from that score
here could really compete. The location of quality source tapes for
Quo Vadis remained a mystery at the time. As any good
Rózsa fan will have known, most of the material presented on the
set was previously unreleased in the form of its original recordings.
King of Kings, as well as parts of
Ivanhoe and
Madame
Bovary, were previously available, but the rest of the scores debut
here in full stereo sound. Rózsa was blessed to have the
technical support at the time to record in three-track stereo sound,
most of which translates well enough to digital media to satisfy all but
the audiophiles. The production quality of the CDs and packaging is
among the best ever pressed and published; producer George Feltenstein's
arrangement of the set was praised by nearly every film music
publication at the time, in many cases voted the best film music album
of the year. The masterful balance to the compilation of music is
complimented by an outstanding 40+ page booklet that features curious
photographs of the composer and the crews with which he worked, along
with an incredible depth of notes by Feltenstein and Fred Karlin. This
set is, simply put, one of the most spectacular compilations ever
presented to the soundtrack community, and any modern fan curious about
Rózsa's work and the Golden Age in general should not hesitate to
enjoy and be educated by it.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
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