I received PMS 65 from Alan today (many thanks) and I made a little discovery ... probably others have too.
In Ralph Erkelenz's great analysis re B-H, he mentions that the scene where the soldiers descend to the dungeons of the Fortress Antonia in search of Miriam and Tirzah was scored, but never recorded.
Guess what ... it WAS recorded, at least partly! Some of you will have the French children's bedtime story 10" 'Lewis Wallace Ben-Hur d'apres le film Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer realise par William Wyler' on Philips 'Jeunesse' De Luxe P 76.200 R. (Please note that I'm not talking about that OTHER French bedtime story 2x 10" on the 'Petit Menestral, Ades' label. Those French seem to have liked this sort of thing.)
Now the music on that record was Rozsa's score, but reworked somewhat by a session orchestra under the baton of one 'Norman Maine', clearly a pseudonym. BUT that music was ALSO released on an EP with ONLY the Rozsa/Maine music (a previous PMS confirms this, I can't recall which one ... one of the two Frank DeWald 'Cid' issues I think ... the second one probably ...) and no dialogue. I don't have that one. The relevant track would be 'Les Lepreuses'.
Now 'Maine' has used a totally different theme for the lepers (Les Lepreuses) and I never knew where it came from, certainly not the Rozsa leper-theme. I assumed it was Maine's own simplification: it's used there for the scenes in the Leper Valley.
I was intrigued to see it there on page 7 of PMS 65, in full view, as a piece Rozsa composed, but didn't use. I'll post a clip (Maine only uses the thing a couple of times, in very short identical cues), but please note that I don't have the 'music only' EP, so any of you who do .... it would be nice to hear it, since it's truly a lost cue. This confirms that 'Maine' (and Baitzouroff who arranged the other French records) had access to the original scoresheets. That might mean that the fanfares they recorded are also lost pieces, since they sound like Rozsa too. Thanks to Ralph, we know something at last on this.
In Ralph Erkelenz's great analysis re B-H, he mentions that the scene where the soldiers descend to the dungeons of the Fortress Antonia in search of Miriam and Tirzah was scored, but never recorded.
Guess what ... it WAS recorded, at least partly! Some of you will have the French children's bedtime story 10" 'Lewis Wallace Ben-Hur d'apres le film Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer realise par William Wyler' on Philips 'Jeunesse' De Luxe P 76.200 R. (Please note that I'm not talking about that OTHER French bedtime story 2x 10" on the 'Petit Menestral, Ades' label. Those French seem to have liked this sort of thing.)
Now the music on that record was Rozsa's score, but reworked somewhat by a session orchestra under the baton of one 'Norman Maine', clearly a pseudonym. BUT that music was ALSO released on an EP with ONLY the Rozsa/Maine music (a previous PMS confirms this, I can't recall which one ... one of the two Frank DeWald 'Cid' issues I think ... the second one probably ...) and no dialogue. I don't have that one. The relevant track would be 'Les Lepreuses'.
Now 'Maine' has used a totally different theme for the lepers (Les Lepreuses) and I never knew where it came from, certainly not the Rozsa leper-theme. I assumed it was Maine's own simplification: it's used there for the scenes in the Leper Valley.
I was intrigued to see it there on page 7 of PMS 65, in full view, as a piece Rozsa composed, but didn't use. I'll post a clip (Maine only uses the thing a couple of times, in very short identical cues), but please note that I don't have the 'music only' EP, so any of you who do .... it would be nice to hear it, since it's truly a lost cue. This confirms that 'Maine' (and Baitzouroff who arranged the other French records) had access to the original scoresheets. That might mean that the fanfares they recorded are also lost pieces, since they sound like Rozsa too. Thanks to Ralph, we know something at last on this.
