The intention of this Blog is to present mock-up synthesized versions of some of the unused and unreleased music for the MGM Motion Picture Ben Hur. All music is composed by the great composer, Miklos Rozsa.
This Blog is for educational and non-commercial purposes only. No infringement of copyright is intended.
As a full time music teacher and part time composer, arranger and performer, whenever I see music on manuscript paper, I often have the uncontrollable urge to either immediately play it at the piano, or, in the case of certain music, spend time trying to re-create it, in an effort to make some kind of audio recording. It is a desire not only to understand and get to know the heart and soul of the music, the composer's intentions etc, but also a desire to make some kind of permanent record....a keepsake if you like....of the music. Hopefully, the recording will be of a sufficient enough quality to give me and others pleasure and emotional satisfaction while listening to it.
Any written score, in a sense, is the middle man to the composer's soul. I believe that it is the duty of the artist to re-assemble and interpret written music in such a way as to do justice to the composer's original intentions. I am always fascinated by the process of taking what are essentially just dots and abstract icons on a page and making them live and breathe in some kind of sonic way. A way that will hopefully reward the discerning listener and have an emotional impact on them in some way. In the case of Miklos Rozsa, finding this emotional and spiritual essence is usually an effortless task because his music is already so imbued with those qualities. It is sufficient enough to just play the notes and let Rozsa's great artistry shine through. With that in mind, I hope that some enjoyment is garnered from my sequenced recordings. These recordings are in no way an attempt by myself to take away or threaten the future of traditional orchestral recordings. I am the first to agree that nothing can replace the sound of a real orchestra and professional performances. Far from it. It is my hope that these additional music cues might one day be recorded professionally and get an official CD release. Realistically speaking though, the fact that most cues are already represented in various ways on previous releases of the soundtrack, coupled with the knowledge that there is probably little commercial value in any future CD release of this material, means that sadly, my sequenced versions may be the only way that we Rozsa fans will ever hear this music.
Music sequenced by Gae Malaponti.......Music cue analysis by William D McCrum (edited by Gae Malaponti)
To hear the samples go Here
