Customer Reviews

More Music from The Fall of the Roman Empire (Original Soundtrack)

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This British import contains more of the score than the original, more expensive Varese Saraband album presentation. Upon completing the score for THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE in 1964, Dimitri Tiomkin selected, re-arranged and recorded representative pieces for inclusion on a commercial LP (Varese CD VSD-5228). However many sterling sequences were omitted from this collection, and some of the new adaptations deviated markedly from the score on the film track. Redressing this imbalance, this CLOUD NINE CD contains more original music from the film, although the original music masters for the film soundtrack were no longer available. A world-wide search was initiated, and some three years later, an excellent tape of certain cues was discovered - albeit in monaural sound. Although this find in no way constituted all, or the best of the full score, it contained some prime material and it was possible to draw additional selections from the music and effects track - including the original mix of THE FANFARES and PRELUDIUM, and the choral mix of the INTERMEZZO, all in stereo. All the available cues were then transferred to digital tape and subsequently edited, sequenced and equalized utilizing solely digital technology. All the cues on this CD, however, were not "limited" in any way, effectively preserving the braod acoustic gained during the original sessions at Shepperton Studios and the Central Hall at Westminster (where the massive pipe organ had to be warmed by an array of electric fires for two days to bring it up to concert pitch). On the final digital master, a healthy amount of tape noise has been maintained in preference to filtering and diminishing the upper registers of the score itself. Much of the music on this disc is being heard for the first time, and along with the other familiar re-recordings, are being presented in the relatively fresh guise of their original soundtrack performances. Tiomkin's approach is bombastic as usual, but there's such a fresh inspiration to this epic score that it's among the most precious of it's kind.

It isn't difficult to list great Dimitri Tiomkin film scores although we all have favorites. Mine are "55 Days At Peking", "The Guns of Navarone", "Friendly Persuasion", "Rio Bravo" and "I Confess." But I could just as easily name a half-dozen others. "D.O.A.", anyone? "Strangers on a Train"? "High Noon"? "The Alamo"? Tiomkin was the Golden Age film composer par excellence.

And, of course, on my list of very favorites is "The Fall of the Roman Empire." This is simply a great motion picture score - solidly behind the action in the film, obtrusive at the right dramatic moments and, most importantly, very beautiful music. Buy it in any variation you can find it. The original soundtrack LP is glorious in mono and stereo. This CD is a treasure but has become hard to get. It's odd how a score so highly regarded - and highly sought after - in the film music lovers' community is so hard to get. Where's capitalism when you need it?

I cannot recommend this score highly enough. For Tiomkin fans and lovers of great movie music, it is a must.

This is a very desired CD more for the collectiblity rather than the score. I found it fairly cheap. It is not worth the high prices except if you are a completist and must have everything that Tiomkin composed. The sound quality is very tinny and poor. The cover is the best thing about the CD.