Rome: Music from the HBO Series

Excellent

I feel this CD is a great blend of music. The tracks vary from stirring martial themes to tranquil pieces and sensual vibes. Jeff Beal, in the liner notes, said that he only used instruments available in ancient Rome. He pointed out that we know little about the music that was played on these instruments. But the tracks meshed well with my perception of the events in the outstanding HBO series. July 15, 2008

so so

there is only 3 or 4 themes that are good everything else is so so. i like soundtracks and i am big fan of it, but i am not so happy with this one. the themes are not well separated one from another and most of the times 3 or 3 scenes are combined in one 'title' that is too long. so from 1 to 10 i would give this cd 6. June 26, 2008

So sensual!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is one of the best soundtrack that I have heard. The music is as sensual as the one from Kama Sutra the Soundtrack. December 19, 2007

Good soundtrack but it's only the first series

When I grew up the accepted authority on Roman Empire music was the Hungarian composer Miklos Rozsa who wrote the music for such films as "Ben Hur" and "Quo Vadis". Rozsa's music was epic and stirring but probably had very little to do with real Roman music.

Jeff Beal has taken a completely different approach in writing the music for the highly authentic mini-series "Rome". The music is basically a combination of ancient Roman and modern orchestral instruments arranged together in such a way to suggest how ancient Roman music must have sounded but still be accessible to modern ears and I think this approach has worked really well. Flutes are used a lot and we know this was a common instrument in Roman times. There is also an oriental flavour to a lot of the pieces but don't expect much epic stuff in the Rozsa style.

I don't have much to criticize but there seems to be nothing here from series 2 which disappointed me as I particularly missed the exuberant joyful music from the wedding of Mark Antony and Octavia as one example from the second series. Perhaps a second volume will be released at some stage.

In any case this is definitely a worthwhile companion to the TV series.

October 25, 2007

fabulous, romantic music

I loved the series ROME and admired the theme music, and noticed the other background music. When I received the CD with the wonderful music, I loved it even more. I would also recommend it as a romantic, sensual backdrop. The composer should receive a grammy or emmy. I've listened to it many times, and I usually don't select this type of music. September 20, 2007

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