These are beautiful, energetic, colorful performances of music that is equally so. Miklós Rózsa’s concert music sounds just like his film music, and all of it sounds Hungarian, whether it’s called Ben-Hur or Three Hungarian Sketches. Mariusz Smolij certainly seems as though he’s enjoying himself, and the orchestra plays with the kind of uninhibited verve that this music really needs. In the Cello Rhapsody Mark Kosower sports an attractive timbre and he shapes the tunes with incisive rhythm and a nice feeling for the music’s melodic curves. Topping it all off: excellent engineering. There’s really nothing more to say. If you like Rózsa’s film music you’re going to enjoy this every bit as much.
