Together with Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Miklos Rozsa has been enjoying something of a renaissance in his music, indeed along with timely releases of his less famous film scores, dozens of his concert works have now been recorded. His two finest are perhaps the violin and cello concertos, but he wrote for other instruments and here the piano is highlighted. The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra from Spellbound is a little ambitiously titled, it's more of a concert suite of the film score, arranged to include a prominent part for piano. However, it covers the score's major features from the glorious main theme and the Williams inspiring love theme, although the eerie motif originally for theremin is recreated without the electronic instrument here. Neither the best nor the worst performance of the suite on record, but with so many to pick from, it's more of a nice bonus.
The piano takes a break for the suite from Ben-Hur, which goes through the stirring Prelude, luscious love theme and perhaps the most epic and dramatic moment, The Burning Desert. In some ways, concluding with that cue rather than Parade of the Charioteers would make a more dramatically satisfying way to end the suite. Still, a nice sample of an epic score. I suspect that most Rozsa fans will only be acquiring this disc for the Piano Concerto which rounds off the album. Anyone familiar with Rozsa's other concertos will feel immediately at home, his striking style is apparent from the outset, the modern orchestral sound coupled with the dance and folk rhythms of Rozsa's native Hungary. The opening music allows the piano to flutter attractively up and down, leaving the orchestra to be more angular, in a distinctly Bartokian way. The slow movement is more languid, but Rozsa rarely allows things to become too mushy, his harmonic style simply avoids too much overt warmth in the orchestration.
Unsurprisingly, the final movement is biting and aggressive, the orchestral pyrotechnics almost as complex as that for the soloist. Had he not written for film, Rozsa might have been the natural successor to Bartok, although Rozsa's music is perhaps a little more traditionally conceived, even if there interestingly unexpected moments - the passage for high woodwind during the final movement of the piano concerto for example. The North Hungarian Symphony give a generally fine performance, even if it lacks the virtuoso playing of the Atlanta Symphony on the Telarc disc containing the violin and cello concertos. The same goes for pianist Danielle Laval whose playing is good, if not perhaps fiery enough for the material. Recording wise, there's nothing specifically wrong with the sound, but it doesn't quite have the polish one expects from modern recordings and there is some hiss, but nothing that seriously impairs the music.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 65:08