Miklós Rozsa: Three Choral Suites

Miklos Rozsa (Composer), Erich Kunzel (Conductor), Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
• Conductor: Erich Kunzel
• Composer: Miklos Rozsa
• Audio CD (April 26, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B0007ZEQA8
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,415 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ben-Hur: Overture

2. Ben-Hur: Star Of Bethlehem/Adoration Of The Magi

3. Ben-Hur: Rowing Of The Galley Slaves

4. Ben-Hur: Alleluia

5. Ben-Hur: Parade Of The Charioteers

6. Ben-Hur: Miracle And Finale

7. Quo Vadis: Prelude

8. Quo Vadis: Ave Caesar March

9. Quo Vadis: Fertility Hymn

10. Quo Vadis: Assyrian Dance

11. Quo Vadis: Marcus And Lygia

12. Quo Vadis: Miracle And Finale

13. King Of Kings: Overture

14. King Of Kings: Roman Legions

15. King Of Kings: Nativity

16. King Of Kings: The Feast Of Passover

17. King Of Kings: Herod's Feast

18. King Of Kings: Miracles Of Christ

19. King Of Kings: The Lord's Prayer

20. King Of Kings: Pieta

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been the best...., November 17, 2005

By 

J. Bevan (Park City, UT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Miklós Rozsa: Three Choral Suites (Audio CD)

There seems to be some polarity among these reviews. I'd like to take a different point of view. Telarc started out life as an audiophile label just before the CD era. As such they were committed to top sound during a time when LPs had become shoddy. The Atlanta Firebird was used at conventions and in audio salons to show off how big a bass drum could be, for example.

In that context this recording is almost strange. To record the Tabernacle Choir separately from the Orchestra is just plain wrong. Listening to the SuperAudioCD version, the two organizations are obviously in different acoustical settings.

It is true that the Saint Saens Organ Symphony has been recorded with the organ separate from the orchestra. BUT the organ part in that work is compartively simple, chordal, and doesn't move around much -- synchronization isn't a big deal.

I know of no other recording that tries to put two very large organizations together miles and months apart. As noted it comes off pretty well (from a synchronization standpoint), but the choir is lost in an acoustic which swallows enuciation.

There aren't many "words" in these works. There's a lot of "Ah Ah" vocalizing (sometimes referred to as 'vapor singing'). The hebrew in Quo Vadis comes across nicely but it is acappella.

Bottom line: they should have either recorded it in Cincinnati with the May Festival Chorus or in Salt Lake with the Utah Symphony. Either town has acoustical settings equal to the project.

This could have been a wonderful recording. But the fact that Telarc has gotten away from its audiophile-quality roots is the culprit in this recording being less than it might have been.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Best, April 27, 2005

By 

G. Piercy "Mr. Piercy" (SLC, UT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Miklos Rozsa: Three Choral Suites [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

What a wonderful tribute to such a great composer as Rozsa. I have listened to this compilation several times now and the sound sequencing and voicing is spectacular. What a wonderful team of having The Cinncinatti Pops and the 360 voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir together. There music and their performance is inspiring. If you like big movie music this is surly the one you want. This was the golden age of Hollywood.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Standout Release, August 29, 2005

By 

John Rappold (Charleston, WV United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Miklos Rozsa: Three Choral Suites [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

I'm a film music nut, and Miklos Rozsa is by far my favorite composer. He's proven quite popular on CD, with many re-releases and re-recordings of both his film scores and his purely concert works. A release like Three Choral Suites can get lost among Rozsa recordings because most of this music has been recorded many times. However, this CD has much to offer the Rozsa fan or the casual listener.

This recording features the Mormon Tabernacle Choir united with the Cincinnati Pops and Mr. Kunzel. The choir adds a welcome dimension and breathes new life into such classics as King of Kings, where the original soundtrack recording suffered from distortion. In this reworking of Rozsa's music, one gets to hear the sheer power and beauty of the King of Kings score, and one can admire the craft that went into these influential film scores.

Speaking of craft, special kudos must be given to Mr. Kunzel for actually seeming to interpret these works, rather than perfomring a perfunctory or rushed reading as I have so often heard on Silva releases. Silva has released many re-recordings of rare film music, but I always get the feeling when listeining to them that the orchestra is almost sight reading the material and there doesn't seem to be a budget for retakes as often times mistakes are heard. Kunzel on the other hand, seems to have taken his time and has brought some fresh interpretations to this material. Sometimes this may fall flat, as in the rushed Rowing of the Galley Slaves from Ben-Hur (those slaves would have been dead from exhaustion long before the piece is over), but most times the fresh perspective works.

As a Rozsa fan, I really love the Quo Vadissuite. In fact Marcus and Lygia is for me the standout piece on the CD, bringing forth music that hasn't been heard apart from the film before, and which was buried way down in the mix of the film; a trait common to MGM. The piece has absolutely beautiful phrasing, and foreshadows Rozsa's techniques for his Ivanhoe score, which he would compose two years later. The Fertility Dance and Finale from Quo Vadis are also standouts.

Even Rozsa's most recorded score, Ben-Hur, has beautiful perfomances, and one gets the feeling that the choir and orchestra are performing with real passion.

The recroding itself is very clean, but a little subdued, with a small lack of presence. I feel as though I'm sitting too far back in a huge concert hall.

Aside from the couple of quibbles above, this is one of the best releases of Rozsa film music in a long time. If you are a Roza fan or someone who wants an introduction to his music, you can't go wrong with this CD.