Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa is rightfully remembered for his many film scores -- among his best known are Quo Vadis, Ben Hur, and El Cid -- but, as this disc coupling his Cello Concerto and Sinfonia Concertante shows, he was also active as a composer for the concert hall. The Sinfonia Concertante for violin and cello was written in 1955 for Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky and the Cello Concerto was written in 1967 for János Starker -- and while both are obviously serious works, both are also obviously by the same ...
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Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa is rightfully remembered for his many film scores -- among his best known are Quo Vadis, Ben Hur, and El Cid -- but, as this disc coupling his Cello Concerto and Sinfonia Concertante shows, he was also active as a composer for the concert hall. The Sinfonia Concertante for violin and cello was written in 1955 for Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky and the Cello Concerto was written in 1967 for János Starker -- and while both are obviously serious works, both are also obviously by the same composer who wrote the film scores, that is to say, Rózsa's melodies are clearly Hungarian, his harmonies are clearly late-Romantic, his rhythms are clearly muscular, his colors are clearly Technicolor, and his technique is clearly first-rate. Whether or not Rózsa's hybrid approach succeeds depends on two things: the conviction of the performers and the taste of the listeners. Certainly, cellist Raphael Wallfisch and violinist Philippe Graffin are deeply dedicated to the music and...
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