# Ben-Hur Miklos Rozsa!



## titanicpiano14

I love the Ben-Hur Love Theme by Miklos Rozsa!

Check out my rendition here: 




What's your favorite Rozsa score?


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## marinermark

I really like "Spellbound." condensed as the "Spellbound Concerto" it's as good a piece (a la Addinsell's "Warsaw concerto") as you'll find.


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## Sid James

His concert works are also good, but more in a Hungarian vein. Kind of inhabiting a world somewhere between the simplicity of Kodaly and the heavier modernist tendencies of Bartok. Check out his concertos and chamber works, many of them are available on the budget label Naxos...


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## Falstaft

Hi titanicpiano, love that you figured out the piece by ear (I'm by ear guessing - try playing a Gb7 in place of some of those Ab chords to get a more accurate harmonization).

If you like _Hur_, I urge you to check out the score to _El Cid_ -- Rozsa's masterpiece in my opinion. Listen to the luscious love scene music.






Even better than _Hur_, and that's no faint praise.


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## Rondo

I have to agree with marinermark about the the score for "Spellbound." It's arguably the finest musical score of all the Hitchcock films. 

"Eye of the Needle," with Donald Sutherland as an elusive knife-wielding spy, is another good one.


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## marinermark

Epilogue to my "Spellbound" comment. After years of enjoying the music, and my posting of the previous comment, I decided to see the movie from Netflix. What a disappointment. It was illogical, contrived and slow; maybe "early Hitchcock" and certainly not up to the suspense and drama of his later films. Rosza's score was often inconsistent with the on-screen events; as though he had written it as much or more for concert as for the film (maybe that's why he won an Oscar for it). I'll continue to enjoy the music, and hope that listening does not evoke memories of the film.


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## Falstaft

Marinermark, you may have your bubble further burst by listening to the 1st movement of Hanson's 2nd Symphony "Romantic", particularly the first main theme.

It is a dated, silly (but interesting) film, but I think it still is a significant score.


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## Rondo

marinermark said:


> Epilogue to my "Spellbound" comment. After years of enjoying the music, and my posting of the previous comment, I decided to see the movie from Netflix. What a disappointment. It was illogical, contrived and slow; maybe "early Hitchcock" and certainly not up to the suspense and drama of his later films. Rosza's score was often inconsistent with the on-screen events; as though he had written it as much or more for concert as for the film (maybe that's why he won an Oscar for it). I'll continue to enjoy the music, and hope that listening does not evoke memories of the film.


It isn't the best of his films, nor the worst (cf. "Under Capricorn") in my opinion. As for the score, it has some really memorable moments, most notably the reccuring love theme. It may not be as poignant as some of Herrmann's Hitchcock scores, but it does stand alone much more successfully.


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## marinermark

Thanks, Falstaft. I'm playing Hanson's 2nd Symphony now. I've heard it, as well as "Spellbound" many times, but didn't pick up on that similar theme until you pointed it out. My disappointment with the film doesn't carry over to the score. I'll continue to play the "Spellbound Concerto" a few times a year. My wife likes it also, as her favorite musical form is the piano concerto.


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## TWhite

I like the score to BEN-HUR (wish the movie was as good as the music), but I think my favorite Rosza film scores are DOUBLE INDEMNITY, SPELLBOUND and of his later 'epic' scores, the magnificent music for EL CID. 

And an interesting Music History note: If you happen to watch the 1952 MGM epic QUO VADIS?, for which Rosza wrote the score, the scene early in the film where Nero (Peter Ustinov) sings to the members of his Council happens to be the only surviving Ancient Roman Ode that has been successfully transcribed into modern notation. Rosza interpolated the music into the score. He was good at that, investigating Early music and using it in his scores as much as possible. 

Darn good composer in my book.

Tom


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## tahnak

titanicpiano14 said:


> What's your favorite Rozsa score?


This is my favourite Rozsa score - Ben Hur


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