Oh, the shame!  This is what films once were.  This is an epic film.  Today, CGI trash like Avatar is somehow also able to be classed as epic.  What happened to films like this?  The statement “they don’t make films like this anymore” could not ring truer when it comes to Lawrence of Arabia.

David Lean’s 1962 masterpiece has been my all-time favourite film this the first time I saw it.  The film is based upon the life of T.E. Lawrence, specifically his experiences in Arabia during World War I.  Lean and producer Sam Spiegel had enjoyed immense success with Bridge on the River Kwai a few years earlier, and would do so again with this film, winning the Academy Awards for both Best Picture and Best Director.  Peter O’ Toole made his breakthrough in the role of Lawrence, earning his first Oscar nomination for the role.  Lawrence of Arabia is a film that routinely appears very near the top of lists of the greatest films of all time, and always will.

Another person who made his breakthrough with this film was composer Maurice Jarre, who would go on to become one of the most successful and respected film composers of all time.  Jarre was certainly not a novice at film scoring at the time, with over two dozen French films to his name, but Lawrence of Arabia was his introduction to Hollywood, where he had just six weeks to compose the music for the film.  Rightly considered one of the greatest film scores ever written, the score earned Jarre his first Oscar (though he wasn’t there to accept it, as he had been told by producer Sam Spiegel that he had no chance as “Americans always win”), and in 2005, the American Film Institute named it the third greatest score of all time.

Jarre’s epic, sweeping main theme for the film was among the most successful he ever wrote, surpassed only by “Lara’s Theme “ from Doctor Zhivago a couple of years later.  Jarre’s weaving of both western and eastern thematic material is particularly admirable, and it can be said without any doubt that this is the best score of Jarre’s illustrious career.

Percussion has always been a strong element in Jarre’s music (indeed, he started out as a timpani player), and he does not hesitate to let his own sound be heard from the very beginning, with the timpani fanfares heard in the first few bars of the “Overture”.  In this cue, the two themes for the Arabs are also introduced.  The first is harmonized in tritons, which is heard briefly before the strings come in to perform the famous desert theme.  The percussion then comes back in and then the second theme is heard, played on woodwinds and strings.  Next heard is a brief statement of Kenneth J. Alford’s “Voice of the Guns”.  After this, both the sweeping desert theme and the two Arabic ones are combined, and the orchestrations become more and more complex as the cue draws to a close.
Of course, it is the sweeping desert theme that is the best known from the score, and is one of few themes from a film score (others being Star Wars, E.T., The Magnificent Seven) that has entered popular culture.  For many, it is the defining music for the desert.

As much as I do love that theme, my favourite is the theme that is first introduced in the “Main Titles” and crops up at several other places throughout the score.  The album’s liner notes refer to it as the “British” theme.  A brisk and animated piece, it emerges suddenly from the anomalous music at the start of the cue.  Jarre then weaves it between the main desert theme throughout.

The very first shot of the desert is of the sun rising, which is in my opinion one of the best scenes ever filmed.  Today, a scene like that would involve a few minutes of CGI.  Back then, you had to be up with the cameras waiting for the sun to rise.

“First Entrance to the Desert” begins with a somewhat eerie flute solo, and unsettled percussion slowly builds up with the strings, during the scene of the sun rising.  The full orchestra then comes in with the main theme as the camera cuts to a sweeping shot of the desert with Lawrence and Tafas making their journey across it.

In “Night and Stars”, Jarre introduces zither and Ondes Martenots into the score, both of which are fairly well known today but back in 1962 would probably have seemed incredibly unusual.  Regardless though, they complement the scene perfectly, and in this recording you can actually hear the Ondes being played.

The first comedic themed music is introduced in “Lawrence and Tafas”, played mainly on light percussion.  At 1:05, a gentle woodwind introduces the secondary desert theme, a glorious piece on strings accompanied by percussion, and later brass, as the two characters make their way across the sweeping desert.  It’s a spectacular scene, with equally spectacular music.  At 2:50, the main theme returns again, and then the comedic music returns again as Lawrence’s Bedouin guide teaches him how to ride a camel at speed, with amusing results.

In the desert, Lawrence’s guide is killed by Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif in an Oscar nominated performance), and he is forced to continue alone.  The fifty second long track “Lawrence Rides Alone” accompanies this scene, a slow paced string theme with gentle percussion.

“Exodus” brings the Arab themes back into the score, starting out in a somewhat menacing fashion with low key strings, but then morphing into a light hearted piece on strings with woodwind and percussion.   ”We Need a Miracle” appropriately brings a sense of desperation into the score, particularly towards the end.

“In Whose Name Do You Ride” accompanies the scene where Lawrence is asked by Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness) whose name he rides in.  He doesn’t answer – the scene then just cuts to Lawrence and Ali leading Faisal’s men towards the Nefu desert.  The piece starts out with gentle percussion and woodwinds, and as the piece progresses the orchestral palette expands.  At 1:50 another theme is introduced – a heroic trumpet fanfare, which reoccurs several times later in the score.

There is only one shot in Lawrence of Arabia that isn’t real, and that’s the shot of the sun during the crossing of the Nefud Desert, which no camera could film without burning up.  Lawrence and the Bedouins travel across the desert day and night to reach water on the other side.  One of the Bedouins, Gasim, succumbs to fatigue and falls off his camel during the night, unnoticed by the others.  “Gasim Lost in the Desert” conveys the power of the sun as it beats down mercilessly upon him, it begins as a piece with a gently menacing tone, which gradually increases as the piece progresses, eventually cumilating in a moment of orchestral mayhem as he collapses again.  Lawrence, after realising Gasim’s disappearance, risks his own life turning back to rescue him, finally earning the respect of Ali.  The cue “Lawrence Rescues Gasim” is a gentle, slow paced piece as he looks for Gasim, and the track then explodes into a grand performance of the main theme in “Lawrence Returns with Gasim”.

“Arrival at Auda’s Camp” opens with a series of brass fanfares, and then, after a brief performance of the main desert theme, launches into the trumpet fanfare that was introduced previously in “In Whose Name Do You Ride”, which also closes out the cue, following a performance of the theme for the Arabs.  The simple theme “Bedouin Feast” is played by a solo woodwind accompanied by ethnic percussion and tambourine.

“On to Akaba” is perhaps the first major action cue, and is the only cue to feature a choral element, which gives the piece a great ethreal quality.  The score’s main theme closes out the first half of the film in grand fashion, after which the rest of the action cues can be found, all of which are spectacular and in particular showcase Jarre’s abilities as a percussionist.

There are many reasons why Lawrence of Arabia is a film that benefits from repeat viewings, but one of the most significant ones is the fact that you don’t know what the ending is.  The final scene shows Lawrence being driven away in a jeep.  He looks out and sees the camels going past – presumably wishing he was with them – and the film ends.  The final cue on the album, “The End” begins with the main theme played gently by plucked strings, and then launches into a rousing performance of the famous march from the score, after which both the primary desert and Arab themes are heard, bringing the album to a triumphant close.

The score for Lawrence of Arabia has been released on CD several times, but until 2010, never in a complete form.  The 1962 recording, conducted by Jarre himself, featured just half an hour of music from the film, and didn’t really do the score justice.  A 1992 recording featuring around 50 minutes of music was performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Tony Bremmer, but again left many (including Jarre, who described the recording as “shitty”) wanting more.

The 2010 Tadlow recording, peerformed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Nic Raine, is the first complete release of the score.  Tadlow has released many fine re-recordings since it was formed in 2006, including El Cid, True Grit, and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, as well as several other works by Maurice Jarre.  This is arguably its best release yet – with its authenticity revealing things in the score that couldn’t be heard in the previous recordings.  The informative liner notes (as always with Tadlow) also make a highly interesting read.

The score itself only fills up one disc of the 2-CD album.  The second disc is called “The Music of Maurice Jarre – A Personal Choice”, and contains music that Fitzpatrick felt best summarized his friend Jarre’s wonderful work.  Music contained on the second disc includes excerpts of such scores as Ryan’s Daughter, Dead Poet’s Society, Jesus of Nazareth, and a particular gem, Moon Over Parador.

Sadly, Jarre himself passed away in 2009 before the release of his finest score in all its glory.  This album however, remains a wonderful tribute to one of the finest composers ever to work in film, and isn’t to be missed by any film music fan.  Magnificent in every possible way.

The Fall of the Roman Empire was the final epic film of producer Samuel Bronston in a series that had included King of Kings, El Cid, and 55 Days at Peking.  With a budget of $20 million (the Roman Forum remains to this day the largest outdoor set ever built for a film), the film was a box office flop and cost Bronston his Spanish production facilities.  Not surprising really.  At nearly three hours, it remains one of the most boring films I’ve ever seen, with dire acting and bizarre sword waggles for battle scenes.  The score might make it worth watching for film music fans, but for anybody else – watch something like Ben-Hur or El Cid instead.

The film was intended to re-unite Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, the stars of El Cid.  Heston turned down the role, instead expressing interest in 55 Days at Peking.  Stephen Boyd was cast instead, who would later blame the film for ruining his career.

Most of the crew from El Cid returned to work on The Fall of the Roman Empire.  A notable exception was composer Miklós Rózsa, who wrote the best score of his career for El Cid and earned himself two Oscar nominations.   Rózsa, who did not discover until the premiere of the film that a significant portion of his score had been cut from the film, refused to work for Bronston again.  Dimitri Tiomkin was brought on board to score 55 Days at Peking the previous year, and would also compose the score to The Fall of the Roman Empire, earning the film’s sole Oscar nomination and providing what was really the film’s only positive aspect.

Tiomkin wrote over 2½ of music for The Fall of the Roman Empire.  Of that, under 40 minutes were included on the soundtrack album, which, combined with its scarce availability (resulting it being expensive to get hold of) and the just decent sound quality, has long been a source of frustration for film music fans.  It was therefore a moment of great delight when it was announced in 2011 that Prometheus Records and Tadlow Music would be releasing Tiomkin’s complete score for the film.  Coming from the same team who brought us the complete recording of Tiomkin’s other masterpiece, The Alamo, in 2010, as well as Tadlow’s release of Miklós Rózsa’s complete score to El Cid, and many other recordings of the highest quality, I can’t remember a time when I’d awaited a soundtrack release so eagerly.  Completely unsurprisingly, this is yet another masterful recording to come from Tadlow and Prometheus, and is easily the best film music album that has debuted so far in 2011.

Nic Raine and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus prove once again that they are masters of Tiomkin’s music, though to be honest, they’ve proved themselves masters at just about everything they’ve released, from Lawrence of Arabia to El Cid to The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes to Exodus.  This is the third complete score by Tiomkin that they’ve recorded now; the previous two being The Guns of Navarone (2005) and The Alamo (2010), the latter of which is generally considered the finest score of Tiomkin’s career.  The release of the complete score for The Fall of the Roman Empire, coupled with La La Land’s recent expanded release of Tiomkin’s score for 55 Days at Peking, make this a great year for all who love his music.

Instead of an Overture, typical for scores of this type, Tiomkin starts of with a series of crisp brass fanfares.  The score immediately launched into the Prelude, which introduces the score’s primary theme, “Fall of Love”, in Gothic fashion with a large organ, later joined by an orchestra which consisted of 130 musicians for this piece alone.

There’s heroic music, there’s mournful music, there’s intense action music, and more.  The mood of the score regularly changes with no warning, but the orchestra does a great job of making the changes clear.  All the music is superb, but the single best cue is perhaps “Pax Romana”, a similar glorious piece with its heroic fanfares and orchestral splendour.  The fantastic performances of the rapid action cues like “The Roman Forum”, “Triumph”, “Balomar’s Barbarian Attack” are testament to the orchestra’s wonderful abilities, with the terrific percussion elements of the former cue being a particular highlight.

The choir’s only significant role is quite late in the score, but the beautiful performance of “Fall of Love” in the cue “Addio” is worth waiting for.  “The Fall of Rome” concludes the score in stunning fashion with the main theme building up slowly until it’s played in its full glory by the organ and orchestra.  A concert suite version of the opening “Prelude” brings the album to an epic close.

An extensive track by track review is pointless here because the amount that could be said about the glorious quality of this score and recording would bore you out of your mind.  This is amongst the most complex and greatest of film scores, and make no mistake, Tadlow and Prometheus have done it yet again.  This is easily the best film music album released during 2011, and with their recording of Basil Poledouris’ Conan the Destroyer coming later this month, this will no doubt be yet another fantastic year for new recordings from them.  Though this certainly isn’t amongst the finest films that Tiomkin scored, it’s certainly amongst the finest scores that he wrote, and this brilliant release of it in its full glory is plenty reason for any film music fan to celebrate.