Ben-Hur – John Wilson Orchestra
An evening pause: From the 1959 classic movie Ben-Hur, written by Miklós Rózsa. Watch the musicians as they aggressively play this very driving piece of music. Shows that classical orchestra music is far from staid and boring.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
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Most enjoyable, and what a great concert hall! I inherited the Ben-Hur soundtrack on vinyl, and the quality of this performance is every bit as good as the original recording. Thanks, Phil!
:–)
If you search YouTube, you’ll find three more components of this same concert, featuring Oscar-winning scores by Maurice Jarre for “Lawrence of Arabia,” Max Steiner for “Casablanca,” and Eric Wolfgang Korngold’s magnificent suite for “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” treasures all.
Thanks, Phil. it turns out that all three can be found on the Hans van den Berg YouTube channel. The Korngold suite is wonderful, lively and romantic by turns, giving the orchestra a tremendous work-out. I’d love to find it on CD.