LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer spared no expense in bringing Sir Walter Scott's immortal novel Ivanhoe to the silver screen. A bold swashbuckling epic released in 1952, the film earned critical accolades and became one of the studio's all-time biggest hits. The Academy liked it too; in addition to contending for Best Picture and Cinematography, Ivanhoe earned a nomination for Miklos Rozsa's score, one of the composer's most famous. What's fascinating about Ivanhoe is the level of authenticity that went into its production. Shot on location (a rare choice for M-G-M in those days) in Boreham Wood, England, the film also called for music evoking the 12th Century. Rozsa delved deeply into the sounds of this time to use as the basis of his themes and melodies. In the liner notes to this release he says, "The various themes in Ivanhoe are partly based on these original sources, or at least influenced by them. Under the opening narration I introduced a theme from a ballad actually written by Richard the Lionhearted. The principal Norman theme I developed from a Latin hymn by the troubadour Guiraut de Bornrth… The love theme for Ivanhoe and Rowena is a free adaptation of an old popular song from the north of France… It's a lovely melody, breathing the innocently amorous atmosphere of the middle ages." n the whirl of accolades already surrounding the film, Rozsa's score was nonetheless singled out as one of Ivanhoe's most triumphant aspects. MGM Records released some of the movie's themes on a 1952 soundtrack album sharing space with themes from Madame Bovary and Plymouth Adventure. After years of film music fans yearning for a complete score, Rozsa scholar Daniel Robbins reconstructed it for a new 1995 recording by Bruce Broughton and the London Sinfonia. However, the original, complete soundtrack of the score, as conducted by Miklos Rozsa and performed by the MGM Studio Orchestra, has remained unreleased until now. One of MGM's earliest attempts to magnetically record film music, Ivanhoe's score has been assembled and remastered from the best-surviving master session tapes, providing all the cues as recorded for the film's original soundtrack. Ivanhoe is available as an individually numbered limited edition of 2,500 copies.
TRACK LISTING PRELUDE AND FORWARD (Original Extended Version) (2:34) RANSOM (3:01) ROTHERWOOD (1:00) BALLAD OF RICHARD (0:27) LADY ROWENA (2:01) MEDLEY: SIR CEDRIC/SQUIRE WAMBA (3:26) ISSAC OF YORK (1:10) REBECCA (0:44) INTRUDER (3:27) ASHBY FANFARES (1:04) DEFEAT (1:05) THE RIVALS (2:36) SHEFFIELD (0:38) BOWS AND ARROWS (1:05) REBECCA'S LOVE (3:10) SEARCH (1:05) TORQUILSTONE'S CASTLE (3:04) BOIS GUILBERT'S PASSION (2:04) BOIS GUILBERT'S BARGAIN (1:49) MEDLEY: BATTLEMENT/FIGHT/FIRE ATTACK (6:12) BREAKTHROUGH/THE BOULDERS/THE BATTERING RAM/SAXON VICTORY/ABDUCTION (6:51) FAREWELL (2:04) CHALLENGE (1:37) TRUMPET FANFARES (0:37) FINALE (2:58) EPILOGUE (0:37) PRELUDE (Revised Main Title) (2:09)