Interesting. I'll consider buying this set........ already have the spectacular Rhino set from the 1990s with that fabulous lavish booklet.......... Hope some new tracks or arrangements are on the new set.
FSM (Film Score Monthly) produced, in 2012, the definitive original soundtrack of
Ben-Hur. It is a 5 CD set including various alternates (i.e. alternative recordings of music used in the film) and several LP releases [see:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/notes/ben_hur.html - this includes a downloadable PDF of 25 pages of notes on the cues] This is
the benchmark CD release of
Ben-Hur and, in my view, trumps the excellent Rhino release.
Tadlow has previously released reconstructions of
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (which Billy Wilder requested be based on Rózsa's
Violin Concerto) and
El Cid. The tapes of the original soundtracks to both these scores don't exist although, in 2012, the Quartet label managed to produce, after years of trying to locate them, second and third generations of the tapes of the virtually complete original soundtrack of
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.
Tadlow also produced for the Belgian Prometheus label reconstructions of
Quo Vadis?,
Sodom and Gomorrah and
The Thief of Bagdad. The tapes of the original soundtracks to
Quo Vadis? and
The Thief of Bagdad don't exist although music and effects tracks do exist for both (i.e. the original soundtracks with various effects heard in the film but without dialogue - apparently prepared for foreign language versions of films).
These 5 releases of reconstructed scores are excellent and, accordingly, Tadlow, in my estimation, are best placed to attempt a reconstruction of
Ben-Hur. Most of the orchestral score no doubt still exists so the level of reconstruction will not be as great as for other scores.
Certain scenes in the original screenplay which Rózsa wrote music for (in short score) did not make it into the film as they were either cut or never actually filmed. The music for these scenes was never recorded or fully orchestrated. The Tadlow release, according to comments I have read from an expert on Rózsa's score, includes virtually all of the unrecorded music. The Tadlow release also includes music that did not make it into the film but has been previously recorded and released.
It was customary in Hollywood for composers' scores to be orchestrated by others (e.g. Korngold, Steiner and Waxman used orchestrators but not Herrmann). Eugene Zador was Rózsa's orchestrator and will have orchestrated
Ben-Hur based on Rózsa's detailed short score. Rózsa once stated that had he given several accomplished orchestrators his detailed short scores they would each have produced the same orchestration (I assume Zador consulted with Rózsa to ensure his orchestrations matched Rózsa's intentions). For this new Tadlow CD Leigh Philips will have orchestrated the previously unrecorded music based on Rózsa's detailed short score and his knowledge of Rózsa's style.
This is the first ever digital recording of the complete score for
Ben-Hur. The booklet is written by a Rózsa expert. It seems it will not include many (if any) stills from the film as I have read that the licence owner was, unusually, uncooperative in granting permission.
Juliet Rózsa, in Tadlow's flyer, refers to
Ben-Hur as her father's magnum opus. I think this is fair albeit that Rózsa composed many fabulous film scores several of which, surely, are among the treasures of 20th century music.
