[Thor Joachim Haga]

I agree with you, Gerate, that some of his action and suspense material can be stressful and grating. I had a Rozsa phase some 20 years ago, but don’t listen to him much these days. It may have something to do with my tinnitus worsening (x3) fairly recently. Makes listening to bombastic music, with lots of those dense, chromatic chords, very stressful indeed (well, it makes listening to ANY type of music difficult, really).

My favourite is unquestionably KING OF KINGS, with those gorgeous, psalm-like segments. BEN HUR is my earliest Rozsa acquisition, but that endless rowing music (in the middle of the TCM album) drives me up the wall. Maybe my top 5 looks like this:

1. KING OF KINGS
2. EL CID
3. IVANHOE
4. YOUNG BESS
5. THE RED HOUSE

Having just reached, and finished, Rozsa in my (neverending) collection walkthrough, I think I need to make a couple of amendments.

The general opinion still stands — Rozsa’s abrasive action music is still torture on my tinnitus-affected ears, but there’s a lot to love in his more downtempo and downkey moments.

I think an updated ranking would be:

1. KING OF KINGS (unbeatable…yes, there is abrasive action music, but the religioso/choral music is unbeatable)
2. YOUNG BESS
3. EL CID
4. THE THIEF OF BAGDAD
5. BEN HUR (being my first Rozsa album – the 1CD TCM edition, I just had to have it on there. Yes, the action music – and especially those fucking rowing cues – still drives me up the wall, but the religioso/downtempo cues rival those of KING OF KINGS).