A Tadlow-produced Prometheus Records 2-CD re-recording of Dimitri Tiomikin's full score for the 1964 epic
Fall of the Roman Empire, with Nic Raine conducting the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
Producer Samuel Bronston had expected Miklos Rozsa, who had just scored Bronston's
El Cid, to compose
Roman Empire, but they'd had a falling out over substantial cuts the sound editor made to
Cid's score. So Bronston hired Tiomkin, who wrote the 138 minutes of music in this set.
This is an expansive score, fitting for the film's epic scale--
Roman Emplire can be considered an alternative-universe version of 2000's
Gladiator that begins with the same premise (Emperor Marcus Aurelius' death) but proceeds along a substantially different story arc. Unlike Rozsa, Tiomkin did not attempt to infuse any sense of musical "authenticity" into his score, but rather aimed at punctuating the film's raw emotional energy.
Gut-level performance in excellent sound.