ROZSA. Film scores—excerpts. Royal Philhar. monic Orchestra conducted by Mikleis Rdzsa. Polydor 2383 440 (£3.25).

Julius Caesar. Lady Hamilton. The Killers. Lydia. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Five Graves to Cairo. The Red Danube.

This disc, issued to coincide with MiklOs ROzsa's 70th birthday (on which I offer cordial congratulations to this one-time film colleague), includes a representative selection from 30 out qf his 40 years'.experience of composing for films. In his particular line of full-blooded, expansive music, opulently scored, he has no equal for consistent quality, fluent invention and consummate technique; and though this particular selection is very overtly Hollywoodian there is no doubt that this is a 'real', not merely a 'commercial', composer. Whether dealing with atmospheres of menace (The Killers, The Red Danube), high drama (Julius Caesar) or romance (Lady Hamilton, Lydia) he shows that sureness of touch which has made him outstanding in his field. I think Christopher Palmer, -who has become Rdzsa's most articulate champion and who provides useful backgrounds to the present extracts, exaggerates the pervasiveness of his original Hungarian influence (which is certainly strong in many of his concert works): here the only places where I was aware of it were in Sherlock Holmes, where the score was deliberately (at Billy Wilder's request)' linked with the Violin Concerto ROzsa wrote for Heifetzwhen is that going to be reissued or re-recorded? —and in the Nocturne of Red Danube, where faint repeated xylophone taps recall a Barteik mannerism. A word of praise, incidentally, for Erich Gruenberg's ravishing playing of the many violin solos, especially the concerto section in Sherlock Holmes.

For the most part the recording—lush in the soundtrack manner—is teriffic: the impact of the initial Julius Caesar fanfares, for example, is shattering, and at all times the heavy brass (frequently baying in canon) is comfortably accommodated. One small criticism is that the piano tends to obtrude from the texture, as in the marcia britannica e elgariana for Queen Victoria's arrival at Balmoral. Yet oddly enough there is some distortion on the solo piano pieces (played by Eric Parkin) from Lydia.,