The V.I.P.s

Label: Chapter III    
Catalogue No: CH 37501

Release Date: 1-Mar-2001
Total Duration: 40:45

UPC: 6-6760-37501-2-3

Just about anything by Miklos Rozsa is worth hearing. This 1963 film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Louis Jourdan is not one of the great films of that era, yet Rozsa has managed to compose a highly dramatic score, parts of which are in the style of his earlier romantic classics.

The opening “Prelude” nicely sete the stage, with a majestic theme full of passionate intensity right out of the 1940s. “The Duchess of Brighton” provides a secondary theme which is regal as the character would suggest. Both the main and secondary themes are used by Rozsa in very subtle fashion throughout his score. Many of the tracks accompany specific actions, such as the darkly dramatic “Conflict”, or the lighter “Adorable Invitation”. “Question of Pride / Suicidal Threat / Finale” is the highlight of the entire soundtrack and presents a series of dramatic turn of events with ample use of a darker sound and a subdued statement of the opening Prelude, until the Finale when it shines forth in one last glorious flourish. The entire score is scored primarily for strings.

If there is any criticism to be made, it is that the Prelude is heard a little too often. For the original LP, Rozsa conducted the Rome Symphony Orchestra. On my preliminary review copy from Chapter III, there is nothing to indicate that fact. Sound is quite good for its era.

This soundtrack is recommended especially to those who are in search of more than Rozsa’s epic classics like BEN-HUR and EL CID. He was a composer who could write a quality film score or a symphonic work with equal ease.

Originally published in Soundtrack Magazine Vol. 22/No. 78/2001 - With permission of the editor, Luc Van de Ven