Classic Ross Amico

Tag: The Ten Commandments

“The Ten Commandments” on “Picture Perfect”

This week on “Picture Perfect,” for the 70th anniversary of the release of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments – and just in time for Passover – we’ll hear selections from Elmer Bernstein’s classic score.

From a 6-CD set on the Intrada label – that includes the complete 2 ½ hour score, three commercial soundtrack releases, and bonus material intriguing enough to curl Charlton Heston’s beard – we’ll hear lovingly remastered highlights from the 1960 Dot and 1966 United Artists soundtrack re-recordings, the Pillar of Fire and parting of the Red Sea sequence from the original score, as heard in the film, and rare demos, prepared for Mr. DeMille by the composer, who announces his themes as he plays them, from the piano.

So let it be written, so let it be done!

It’s the collector’s equivalent of stone tablets handed down from Mount Sinai. Join me for the definitive “The Ten Commandments,” on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!

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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu

March 27, 2026
Bible Movie Epics: Samson, Solomon & More

With Passover and Easter right around the corner, we’re entering the peak season for Bible movies. This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s an hour of music from epics inspired by the Old Testament – including “Samson and Delilah” (Victor Young), “Solomon and Sheba” (Mario Nascimbene), “Sodom and Gomorrah” (Miklós Rózsa) and “The Ten Commandments” (Elmer Bernstein).

We begin and end with two Cecil B. DeMille productions. DeMille could always be counted on to give his audience a good show. Both “Samson” and “The Ten Commandments” feature sultry temptresses, violent, bare-chested men, and plenty of austere moralizing. The climactic special effects in both films are still sublime.

Tyrone Power was originally cast as Solomon in King Vidor’s “Solomon and Sheba.” However, he died of a massive heart attack during shooting (at the age of 44), paving the way for Yul Brynner to assume the role of the wise king. Brynner, of course, would later become DeMille’s pharaoh Rameses. With Gina Lollobrigida as the Queen of Sheba, you know there has to be an orgiastic dance.

Miklós Rózsa characterized “Sodom of Gomorrah” as “an intriguing subject which developed into a bad picture,” and most critics agreed. Any film that casts Stewart Granger as Lot should be taken with a pillar of salt. Rózsa determined not to score any more Biblical epics after “Sodom,” though his music is nothing to be ashamed of. It possesses that classic Rózsa epic sound, much beloved, thanks to his work on “Quo Vadis,” “Ben-Hur” and “King of Kings.”

Chariots! Tunics! Histrionic acting! It’s going to be epic, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!

PHOTOS: Victor Mature’s stuffed lion vs. Charlton Heston’s cotton candy beard

April 9, 2022
Ten Commandments Score 60th Anniversary

For the 60th anniversary of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” the Intrada label has handed down, like stone tablets from Mount Sinai, a definitive, 6-CD box set of music from the film. The collection includes the complete 2 ½ hour score, three commercial soundtrack releases, and bonus material intriguing enough to curl Charlton Heston’s beard.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll share lovingly remastered selections from the 1960 Dot and 1966 United Artist soundtrack re-recordings, the Pillar of Fire and parting of the Red Sea sequence from the actual film, and rare demos, prepared for Mr. DeMille by the composer, Elmer Bernstein, who will introduce his themes from the piano.

So let it be written, so let it be done! Join me for the definitive “The Ten Commandments,” on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

April 7, 2017
TGIF Classical Music Weekend Starts Here

TGIF! Make the transition to the weekend with music by Joseph Ryelandt, Domenico Dragonetti, Harald Saeverud, and Percy Faith, on their birthdays. In addition, we’ll hear pianists/birthday celebrants Robert Casadesus and Leif Ove Andsnes play Chabrier and Grieg, respectively.

That’s got to be at least two hours, right there.

Then stick around for “Picture Perfect” and a definitive survey of Elmer Bernstein’s music for Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.” We’ll be sampling from an exhaustive 6-CD set, released on the Intrada label, in honor of the film’s 60th anniversary.

I’ll be there, enjoying the music right along with you, this Friday afternoon at 4:00 EDT. “Picture Perfect” begins at 6, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 7, 2017
Passover Ernst Toch & Bitter Herbs

It was not my intention by focusing on Easter the past couple of days to overlook the observance of Passover. You can bet your afikoman prize that if I weren’t doing the Easter circuit yesterday, I would have been home last night watching “The Ten Commandments.”

Though the Seders are past, Passover is an eight-day festival. I hope you’ll accept this link to a mini-documentary on Ernst Toch’s “Cantata of the Bitter Herbs” – a work which I nearly played on “The Lost Chord” yesterday (perhaps next year) – as an expression of my best wishes for a chag Pesach Sameach.

Toch, a European exile who settled in the United States (by way of Paris and London) following Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1956 for his Third Symphony.

April 6, 2015

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