Bernard Herrmann & Alfred Newman: The Egyptian [Soundtrack]

Bernard Herrmann (Composer), Alfred [1] Newman (Composer), William T. Stromberg (Conductor), Moscow Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Moscow Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: William T. Stromberg
• Composer: Bernard Herrmann, Alfred [1] Newman
• Audio CD (February 22, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0007ACVKK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,580 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This is the first digital recording of the legendary score, a unique onetime collaboration between two of the greatest artists who ever composed music for the cinema: Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann. With rich orchestral colors and complex orchestrations and chorus, the music reflects the "long ago and far away" feel of the 1954 film.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Film Score by Both Hermann and Newman, May 8, 2005

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bernard Herrmann & Alfred Newman: The Egyptian (Audio CD)

Very unusually Darryl Zanuck assigned this film score to two of 20th Century Fox's stable of composers, one very established, Alfred Newman, and one a newcomer who was gaining a reputation as a superb writer, Bernard Herrmann. This was for expediency's sake because Newman was also involved at the same time in writing the score for another movie in production, 'There's No Business Like Show Business.' And, in fact, Herrmann wrote most of the score, although some of the cues had melodies written by Newman but expanded and orchestrated by Herrmann; each of those cues had the notation 'music developed by Bernard Herrman from themes composed by Alfred Newman.' (It is of note that Newman did not do any of his own orchestration, leaving that to Edward Powell; Herrmann did all his orchestrations.) Herrmann and Newman each conducted some of the original sound track recording. What is amazing is that there is no fault line between the music written by Newman, a composer of the old Austrian high-romantic camp, and Herrmann, whose style ultimately developed along much more advanced lines (witness his score for 'Psycho').

The movie itself was one of those blood-and-sandal epics so beloved by Hollywood in the 1950s. And it was one of the very first Cinemascope extravaganzas. It was not much of a movie, starring a cipher of an actor, Edmond Purdom. And the story isn't much, either. The music, accordingly, partakes rather too much of the faux-oriental style so familiar from such movies. Still, there are some really memorable passages, particularly those that are of the more intimate scenes. The love scene--the cue is titled 'Her Name was Merit' -- features a really lovely alto flute and oboe d'amore theme with harp and string accompaniment. There are also some scenes of religious splendor -- e.g. Hymn to Aton -- that are also quite striking for all they owe to the temple scene of 'Aïda.'

The score was cut down somewhat for this CD. Originally there were about 100 minutes of music. Film music arranger John Morgan gets credit for making what turns out to be an effective 70 minutes of music that can stand on its own, absent the film. It is played more or less without pause, moving from one cue to the other seamlessly. Veteran film music conductor William Stromberg gets a fairly decent performance out of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Choir. This performance was originally issued in 1998 on the full-price Marco Polo label.

This score is a superior example of its type and it is given a creditable performance here.

TT=71:30

Scott Morrison

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy...but not superior, April 14, 2007

By 

J. A. Retzer (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bernard Herrmann & Alfred Newman: The Egyptian (Audio CD)

I already own the original-issue MCA/Decca studio recording CD as well as the Film Score Monthly soundtrack CD for this rousing good score, so for the completist in me, I bought the NAXOS/Marco Polo digital re-recording.

It's a worthy effort, but the performance lacks the "enthusiasm" of the originals. I just didn't "feel it," even with the always-excellent recording standards of the Stromberg/Morgan team. This is most evident during the spiritual passages and particularly during the two Hymn to Aton sequences, where neither the glory nor the tragedy comes across.

No slam at the Soviet chorus (they've proved themselves well enough in other projects), but their accents on the English text really became distracting on this disc.

Also, the balance between the orchestra and the chorus is variable at best and at times the brass lines drown out the parts where the chorus is supposed to be prominant.

On the plus side, the liner notes for this CD were excellent and very informative. At 71 minutes, the addition of so much extra music not found on the original studio recording was welcome; and to have it presented in a "cleaner" digital version than on the FSM soundtrack CD was nice (though I hasten to add that the FSM disc is still THE recording to get).

Overall, a useful addition for completists or those who can't afford the higher-priced studio or soundtrack recordings, but just be aware that some of the "heart" is missing from this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Soundtracks of a great film score!, June 27, 2009

By 

Michael Taylor "real TV" (Auckland, NZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bernard Herrmann & Alfred Newman: The Egyptian (Audio CD)

This is a truly excellent composition of the original film score and one I purchased some time back. Two of the greatest composers of film music were behind the Egyptian musical score and when Alfred Newman has his name to something then I am sold anyway. Of course equal credit must go to Bernard Herrmann.

This 20th Century Fox film - the Egyptian - is a classic and the soundtrack surely complimented the story. Right from the beginning, the music takes you away to ancient Egypt with its themes. One of the most beautiful tracks on this is track 11 - Nefer-Nefer-Nefer and the main theme spills in to this time and again. A lot of mood-music here and if you have got the blues, don't play those 'sad' themes...

A collectors item for lovers of film music. You would be hard pressed to find an original sountrack by Herrmann & Newman - if at all - and this is a faithful digital rendition & recording. A MUST HAVE!