Over the years I’ve covered many releases from The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and I’ve mostly wondered, why? For once, with the latest release, Lawrence of Arabia, it all make sense.

According to a few online sources the original recordings for Lawrence of Arabia had been lost, or as one writer puts it, tossed idiotically in the garbage. The only music source left for the film was what had been out into the mix of the film itself. The result has been several releases that were sub par and did not include the soundtrack in its entirety. Thus the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, with the original musical notes from Maurice Jarre, have reproduced the soundtrack in this amazing and beautiful new edition of Lawrence of Arabia soundtrack.

If you’ve seen the film no doubt, while still loving the original Maurice Jarre soundtrack, you can’t help but notice how worn and dated it sounds. Let’s face it, recording techniques were not what they are today. With that being said you get the full reach of the orchestrations in this new production of Jarre’s magnificent work. There is a clarity that brings life to every musical section and allows even the most subtle of tracks to carry with it an emotional attachment that is not lost due to low volume adjustments that would have possibly been present in older recordings.

It’s amazing to hear this soundtrack and know for a fact that it inspired a lot of other music for film. I could swear Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack for The Mummy (1999) may very well be a complete rip off of Jarre’s work here. Then again maybe it’s just possible that Jarre cornered the market for the sounds of Egypt according to Hollywood. Aside from Goldsmith I hear faint traces of the same epic sweeping orchestrations in Bear McCreary’s soundtrack for the television show Human Target. No doubt there are countless soundtracks inspired by Jarre’s work on Lawrence of Arabia that plays at whimsical, adventurous, romantic, and playful all rolled into one (I’ll have to check the Indiana Jones soundtracks from John Williams when I have time). In any case, for once I understand the importance of The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra’s efforts. If you are a film buff or a fan of great musical soundtracks I would highly suggesting getting yourself a copy before they are gone for ever. I know I won’t be letting this one out of my collection anytime soon, or possibly ever. Just amazing work. Enjoy.