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http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8775
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is another 45-day only release (I have the previous release of this recording and the FSM of Rózsa’s original recording so I’ll most likely pass). I also wouldn’t be surprised if we get a reissue of Jason and the Argonauts at some point.
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Posted: |
Aug 21, 2021 - 10:30 PM
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By: |
Amer Zahid
(Member)
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Update from Doug Fake :
..... And with our Excalibur series in mind, this coming Tuesday we are releasing a newly-remastered CD of our 1995 Sinfonia of London re-recording of Julius Caesar, composed by Miklos Rozsa and conducted by Bruce Broughton. Of all our many Rozsa releases, this is my personal favorite. The performance and interpretation are without peer, the music quietest simply a powerhouse. I have always been amazed at how well Rozsa captured the tragedy of Brutus, the nobility of Antony, and how these two characters - and their unique musical themes - play at the heart of the score and the drama it supports. Caesar is the titular character indeed, but it is Antony and Brutus that Rozsa, and we as an audience, take note of. What a powerful conflict and what Rozsa does with his two main themes is stunning. In a score with much Roman splendor to offer, Rozsa lets these two themes do battle. In the very end, only one can emerge victorious. Wow!
Newly remastered presentation of our 1995 re-recording of Miklos Rozsa’s masterful score for Julius Caesar! Legendary Shakespeare telling of the events surrounding and following the assassination of the titular character saw production at MGM in 1953 under famed producer John Houseman, also-famed director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, with an equally famous cast that boasted Marlon Brando (Academy Award-nominated for Best Actor) plus James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Edmond O’Brien, Greer Carson, Deborah Kerr. Film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar as well. Though Caesar is the catalyst for an intense tale of murder, intrigue and Roman warfare, it remains the towering figures of Caesar’s noble friend and Roman General, Mark Antony, in conflict with Caesar’s closest friend and eventual assassin, Brutus, that steers the drama. Miklos Rozsa anchored his potent score on these dual principals, offering not one but two primary themes that compliment and ultimately conflict with each other in an incredible final display. With his “Julius Caesar Overture”, Rozsa introduces Brutus with a rich, somber minor key theme for strings, while Roman fanfares accentuate. It’s a dark-tinged and brooding line that portends tragedy. Now enter Rozsa’s “Praeludium” heard underneath the opening credits, and Brutus gives way to the regal and martial Caesar theme, later to skillfully emerge Antony’s theme as he becomes Caesar’s avenger. How these two themes play independently for most of the score encompasses much of the 55-minutes of music. One superb highlight can be heard with the lengthy “Brutus’ Soliloquy”, in which his theme eschews all brass and unfolds with unusually thick, lugubrious writing for strings emphasizing the lower and middle registers. It surely qualifies as one of Rozsa’s great pieces! Other contrasting ideas appear as well, including numerous Roman fanfares, processions and dramatic sequences involving storms, battles and the murder itself. And then there is that incredible moment when both primary themes play, then collide… with one of them finally winning the conflict.: “Caesar, Now Be Still” finds Brutus the assassin’s army being destroyed by Antony the avenger’s army. Rozsa works with the former’s tragic theme as Caesar’s once-friend now need fall on his own sword. Emerging at first from a distance then inexorably taking command, Antony’s (Caesar’s) theme becomes a powerful Roman march, climaxing in a resplendent display of fortissimo brass and percussion. Wow! Rozsa’s complete score, including much music not used in the final film, was beautifully reconstructed by Daniel Robbins from Rozsa’s own manuscripts. Three brief alternates make their debut. Veteran composer/conductor Bruce Broughton leads the superb Sinfonia of London, augmented by the Sinfonia Chorus and soprano soloist Jane Emmanuel. Engineer Mike Ross-Trevor records and mixes at AIR Studios in London, Booklet notes by Tony Thomas, Douglass Fake with Douglass Fake producing. Completely remastered presentation available in limited quantitiy on CD with new packaging designed by Kay Marshall before moving on to live as a digital release only.
Label: Intrada INT 7165
Film Date: 1953
Album Date: 2021
Time: 59:53
Tracks: 24
Newly remastered presentation of our 1995 re-recording of Miklos Rozsa’s masterful score for Julius Caesar!
This CD release will only be available for 45 days and goes off sale October 15 2021 or when supplies run out.
Digital version coming soon to wherever digital music is sold.
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl?it=A&id=12420
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Doug’s Press Release and Tracklist:
Newly remastered presentation of our 1995 re-recording of Miklos Rozsa’s masterful score for Julius Caesar! Legendary Shakespeare telling of the events surrounding and following the assassination of the titular character saw production at MGM in 1953 under famed producer John Houseman, also-famed director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, with an equally famous cast that boasted Marlon Brando (Academy Award-nominated for Best Actor) plus James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Edmond O’Brien, Greer Carson, Deborah Kerr. Film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar as well. Though Caesar is the catalyst for an intense tale of murder, intrigue and Roman warfare, it remains the towering figures of Caesar’s noble friend and Roman General, Mark Antony, in conflict with Caesar’s closest friend and eventual assassin, Brutus, that steers the drama. Miklos Rozsa anchored his potent score on these dual principals, offering not one but two primary themes that compliment and ultimately conflict with each other in an incredible final display. With his “Julius Caesar Overture”, Rozsa introduces Brutus with a rich, somber minor key theme for strings, while Roman fanfares accentuate. It’s a dark-tinged and brooding line that portends tragedy. Now enter Rozsa’s “Praeludium” heard underneath the opening credits, and Brutus gives way to the regal and martial Caesar theme, later to skillfully emerge Antony’s theme as he becomes Caesar’s avenger. How these two themes play independently for most of the score encompasses much of the 55-minutes of music. One superb highlight can be heard with the lengthy “Brutus’ Soliloquy”, in which his theme eschews all brass and unfolds with unusually thick, lugubrious writing for strings emphasizing the lower and middle registers. It surely qualifies as one of Rozsa’s great pieces! Other contrasting ideas appear as well, including numerous Roman fanfares, processions and dramatic sequences involving storms, battles and the murder itself. And then there is that incredible moment when both primary themes play, then collide… with one of them finally winning the conflict.: “Caesar, Now Be Still” finds Brutus the assassin’s army being destroyed by Antony the avenger’s army. Rozsa works with the former’s tragic theme as Caesar’s once-friend now need fall on his own sword. Emerging at first from a distance then inexorably taking command, Antony’s (Caesar’s) theme becomes a powerful Roman march, climaxing in a resplendent display of fortissimo brass and percussion. Wow! Rozsa’s complete score, including much music not used in the final film, was beautifully reconstructed by Daniel Robbins from Rozsa’s own manuscripts. Three brief alternates make their debut. Veteran composer/conductor Bruce Broughton leads the superb Sinfonia of London, augmented by the Sinfonia Chorus and soprano soloist Jane Emmanuel. Engineer Mike Ross-Trevor records and mixes at AIR Studios in London, Booklet notes by Tony Thomas, Douglass Fake with Douglass Fake producing. Completely remastered presentation available in limited quantitiy on CD with new packaging designed by Kay Marshall before moving on to live as a digital release only.
01. Julius Caesar Overture (3:16)
02. Praeludium (3:38)
03. Caesar’s Procession (2:47)
04. Flavius Arrested (0:19)
05. Feast Of Lupercal (0:44)
06. Caesar And His Train (0:53)
07. The Scolding Winds (2:42)
08. Brutus’ Soliloquy (6:35)
09. Brutus’ Secret (2:12)
10. They Murder Caesar (1:09)
11. The Ides Of March (4:38)
12. Black Sentence (3:58)
13. Brutus’ Camp (1:32)
14. Heavy Eyes (1:50)
15. Gentle Knave (Full Strings) (2:09)
16. Ghost Of Caesar (1:43)
17. Most Noble Brutus (1:12)
18. Battle At Philippi (1:29)
19. Titinius Enclosed (0:41)
20. Caesar, Now Be Still! (9:12)
21. Finale (1:12)
Total Score Time: 54:29
The Extras
22. Praeludium (Alternate) (3:37)
23. Flourish (Alternate) (0:15)
24. Gentle Knave (Chamber Orchestra) (1:16)
Total Extras Time: 5:13
Total CD Time: 59:53
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What?! This is awesome! After having heard JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE MALTESE FALCON and RIO CONCHOS, I am very enthusiastic about faithful re-recordings now.
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Hope to see this soon on qobuz 
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I wish they’d spend less time on reissues, and more time on re-recording other unavailable scores.
JUNGLE BOOK? THAT HAMILTON WOMAN? A DOUBLE LIFE?
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Three extra tracks = gotta rebuy.
I wonder if the time for 'Cesar Now Be Still' is a typo or not, it's 8:56 on my disc.
Typo above too - Caesar.
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I wish they’d spend less time on reissues, and more time on re-recording other unavailable scores.
JUNGLE BOOK? THAT HAMILTON WOMAN? A DOUBLE LIFE?
I'd love to get all of those -- they are great suggestions -- and I'll add on (when it comes to Rozsa alone) a desire for THE FOUR FEATHERS, KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOUR, FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO, SAHARA, THE MACOMBER AFFAIR, etc. It would also be cool to get an album (maybe a double CD) covering his important films noir output in the 40s which appears to largely be lost: DARK WATERS, LADY ON A TRAIN, THE OTHER LOVE, TIME OUT OF MIND, SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR, A WOMAN'S VENGEANCE, NAKED CITY, KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS, CRISS CROSS, and THE BRIBE. In my opinion every one of Rozsa's works deserves to exist on album in complete form, just like Herrmann, Goldsmith, or Williams. I will enthusiastically give to any Rozsa re-recording Kickstarter (unless perhaps it's something which has been thoroughly covered at this point).
All that said...I don't think that reissuing their classic Excalibur recordings takes a great deal of time/money/effort on Intrada's part. A bit, yes, but do you really think it's in any way comparable to producing a brand new recording from scratch? The archaeological work, reconstruction work, recording a new performance, mastering, etc. etc. etc? This is not remotely a situation where reissuing their past Rozsa re-recordings is *instead of* producing new ones. The bulk of expense of making these recordings is past. I'd be shocked if any of them turned a profit, a quarter century ago when they were made, and I don't begrudge Intrada trying to eke a bit more income out of these great recordings now.
If anything, these Rozsa re-recordings being reissued likely does more to bolster the chances of a new Rozsa recording being considered -- IF they sell well enough of course, and indicate that interest in Rozsa is still alive.
Witness earlier this year: RIO CONCHOS / THE ARTIST WHO DID NOT WANT TO PAINT by Goldsmith was given a similar definitive "future-proofed" reissue at the beginning of May, to be available on CD for 45 days and go off sale on June 21. But as they wrote on their website, "DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND The Last Day to Order has been extended until July 5 2021 or while supplies last!"
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12350/.f
It actually continued to be available on their website for ordering even a couple weeks after that July 5 extension. I happen to know that this same period of time was when Intrada made the decision for Goldsmith's BLACK PATCH / THE MAN to be their next Kickstarter (at least, late June is when the decision became concrete enough to involve conductor Bill Stromberg, who brought me into the loop soon after). I would be very surprised if this timing was all a total coincidence, though I'm sure Roger will correct me here if I'm completely off the mark.
I'm sure that Black Patch winning their forum poll three years ago played a part in their decision, among other factors, but I really think the most convincing argument for future releases is sales of current and (recent) past releases. Intrada is a business of course, and while they might have the occasional pet project they make happen, they care about what the majority of their audience/customer base wants. If they go through a lot of trouble to release a score and it only sells a few hundred copies, that probably negatively impacts the likelihood of them doing more by that composer. A decade or more ago they actually had a series of Hugo Friedhofer releases that seemed pretty successful, and they rapidly put out a bunch of his surviving Fox output which repeatedly sold out at 1500 copies as I recall. I think they exhausted what archives they had, and then moved onto Paramount's holdings a few years later and released even more Hugo Friedhofer from those vaults. I'm sure that's both because Doug loves Hugo Friedhofer as well as the fact that sales continued at a good enough rate for all that material.
Now that Intrada no longer publishes the quantities of their initial licenses on limited releases, we have no way of knowing how well their excellent expansion of Friedhofer's The Young Lions did last year (unless they tell us). But I'll bet you that if it kept selling and required a re-pressing (as at least their last three releases noticeably required), and perhaps if Joan of Arc had been first place (or even second or third, instead of fourth) in that poll Roger did three years ago, there would have been much greater likelihood of Joan of Arc being chosen as the next Kickstarter. Film music (especially older film music, especially on CD, especially re-recordings) is a very niche interest whether we like it or not, and it just makes sense that -- in particular with expensive and time- and effort-consuming re-recording projects -- Intrada would not aim for a smaller and smaller segment of that niche, particularly in these uncertain times.
In short, the best argument Rozsa fans like us can make to Intrada that they should consider Rozsa for their next Kickstarter: "The reissue of your classic Julius Caesar re-recording sold great; look how many Rozsa nuts are still in the world! A Kickstarter to tackle a new recording of an otherwise-lost work of his would probably be successful and worth your time to mount."
At least, that's the way I see it.
Yavar
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I wonder if the time for 'Cesar Now Be Still' is a typo or not, it's 8:56 on my disc.
It's not really a typo. The last 16 seconds are simply Caesar being silently still.
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Maybe they did record them in the 90s and just left them off the CD, as with the Rio Conchos End Title and Wall of Fire alternate, until they reissued? This Julius Caesar reissue has three new alternates they recorded in the 90s but left off the original album. I’m sure they’ll get around to revisiting Jason (probably next) and I look forward to discovering what extras they have on it!
Yavar
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