Intrada announces the latest in its Excalibur Collection — a brand new recording of Miklos Rozsa‘s The Twelve Choruses. The film choruses on this disc—derived from Ben-Hur (1959) and King of Kings (1961)—were published by Robbins Music, the publishing division of M-G-M, shortly after the films were released. Accessible and relatively easy to perform, they were intended primarily for church and school choirs. To expand their appeal and usefulness, most were published in two arrangements—mixed choir and women’s choir—with piano or organ accompaniment. Although the composer did not necessarily intend all 12 of these pieces to be performed as a group, they were recorded as such by Rózsa’s friend and associate Tony Thomas in the early 1980s and Christopher Palmer arranged some of them in a “Christmas Sequence” recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992. This Intrada release is their first complete recording in over three decades.
As conductor Allan Wilson recalls: “This project came about following a recording I conducted at Phoenix Sound, Pinewood Film Studios. We had already recorded Rózsa’s The Red House for Intrada with the RSNO in Glasgow, Scotland, and needed to add a choir to a few of the tracks. Paul Talkington recalled a conversation he’d had with Paul Wing about a new choir that had been formed at Winchester Cathedral, so we decided to book them for this session at Pinewood. I was very impressed by the attitude and ability of the choir and in particular its pure—almost angelic—sound.”
Whilst this is their first CD recording project, the Westminster Cathedral Chamber Choir has recorded the choral parts to a number of film scores and has other similar projects in the pipeline.
Winchester Cathedral Chamber Choir
Conducted by Allan Wilson and George Castle
INTRADA MAF 7134
TRACKLIST
01. The Christ Theme – From Ben-Hur 2:27
02. Star of Bethlehem – From Ben-Hur 2:10
03. The Nativity – From King of Kings 2:29
04. The Kings of Bethlehem 5:28
05. Adoration of the Magi – From Ben-Hur 2:03
06. Blessed Mary – From King of Kings 2:17
07. The Mother’s Love – From Ben-Hur 4:16
08. The Prayer of Our Lord – From King of Kings 2:32
09. The Sermon on the Mount – From King of Kings 4:49
10. The Way of the Cross – From King of Kings 4:44
11. Pietà – From King of Kings 5:32
12. King of Kings Theme – From King of Kings 2:53
13. The Twenty-Third Psalm, Op. 34† 7:08
