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In the comprehensive liner notes that accompany
Film Score Monthly's superb release of the entire Miklos Rozsa
score for JULIUS CAESAR, they generously mention the fact that
"the complete score was re-recorded in 1995 by Intrada
Records with Bruce Broughton conducting ----- and we recommend
their CD for listeners wishing to hear a modern stereo recording
of this classic music." For me, though, the only value
in listening to the Broughton version is that it confirms what I
have always believed : that it is impossible to convey the
essence, power, and spirit of just two of the great Golden Age
composers in a re-recording -- Alfred Newman and Miklos Rozsa.
(Even the legendary 70's re-recordings produced by George Korngold
and conducted by Charles Gerhardt, as well as the equally
celebrated Elmer Bernstein re-recordings that had done exemplary
justice to the works of Steiner, Waxman, Tiomkin, and scores
of others totally dropped the ball when faced with the daunting
works of Newman and Rozsa. Indeed, only one man successfully
re-recorded the Rosza scores ---- Rosza himself!) Trying to
compare the misguided Muir Matheson British version of KNIGHTS OF
THE ROUND TABLE with the Rozsa tracks released last year by FSM
further illustrates and amplifies my contention.
It goes without saying that FSM's JULIUS CAESAR
release is a cause for celebration, for here, finally, we can
listen to this great score in all its majestically dramatic
splendor. So fine is this work that it single-handedly justified
the controversial, and to many, wrong choice to film CAESAR in
shadowy black and white by creating a soundtrack that combined the
elements of pageantry and film noir. (At the time director Joseph
L. Mankiewicz said "I've never seen a good, serious dramatic
movie in color " ---- that sweepingly absurd statement
would soon be contradicted by Mankiewicz himself, who would go on
to direct such films as THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA and SLEUTH, as well
as many others, in color!)
An even more pronounced miscalculation occurred
when M.G.M jettisoned the excellent Rozsa overture in favor of the
Johnny Green conducted Tchaikovsky CAPPRICIO ITALIEN short. The
egregiousness of that ridiculous decision is immediately and
glaringly apparent when one hears the overture in its entirety as
included in the FSM release, for it magnificently sets the stage
for the dramatic events about to unfold, as well as preparing us
for one of the finest Rozsa scores ever. Hail CAESAR,
indeed!
--DICK DINMAN
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