''Cleopatra: Original Soundtrack Album'' is the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

from the film of the same name, released by

20th Century Fox Records 20th Century Fox Records (also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, or simply 20th Century Fox Film Scores and Fox Records) was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label covers three distin ...

in 1963. The music of ''Cleopatra'' was composed and conducted by

Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer; December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', ''Spartac ...

, and was recorded and produced in 1963. It has been released several times, first as an original vinyl album, in 1963. Later, in 1997, it was released in CD format by Tsunami Records, in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, as a ''Limited Edition'' album. The most popular of the releases was the ''Deluxe Edition'', or 2001

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...

Edition, released as a double CD in 2001.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. A four-time Academy Award winner, he is best known for his witty and literate dialogue and his preference for voice-over ...

, the film's director, made the unusual gesture, for him, of contributing extensive liner notes for the 1963 Original Soundtrack Album. These notes provide a valuable elucidation of many points in Mankiewicz's conception of ''Cleopatra'' that are unrealized in the version of the film that was released. Ironically, it was Mankiewicz's son Christopher who recommended North after his enthusiasm for his great score for ''

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

'' (1960). In 1964, ''Cleopatra: Original Soundtrack Album'' was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music Score - Substantially Original, and for the Grammy Award for Best Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television, but on both occasions it lost to ''

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

'' (1963).

Releases

The soundtrack of ''Cleopatra'' was released on

Compact Disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

in two different versions at two different times. The original vinyl selection of tracks had long gone out of print before digital restorations of the soundtrack was released. The versions are as follows: * The 1997 limited edition, released by Tsunami Records, an independent German record label, called ''Cleopatra: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'', contained selected tracks, not representing the complete range of tracks heard in the film. The Tsunami release is also considered to be of an inferior sound quality and was made redundant by the complete Varèse Sarabande release. * The 2001

album, named ''Cleopatra: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'', is by far the most popular release of the soundtrack of ''Cleopatra''. Running over 151 minutes, the album contains the entire score heard in the film in chronological order. It was released over two discs.

Track listing

Nomination and ratings

''Cleopatra: Original Soundtrack Album'' was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music Score - Substantially Original at the 1964 ceremony, and for the Grammy Award for Best Sound Track Album – Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television at its 1964 ceremony, but on both occasions it lost to ''

'' (1963), with music composed by

John Addison John Mervyn Addison (16 March 19207 December 1998) was a British composer best known for his film scores. Early life Addison was born in Chobham, Surrey to a father who was a colonel in the Royal Field Artillery, and this influenced the de ...

. On the site Filmtracks.com, the soundtrack is rated 5/5.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

rates the soundtrack 5/5.

References

{{reflist 1963 soundtrack albums Varèse Sarabande soundtracks Alex North soundtracks Albums produced by Alex North Drama film soundtracks Epic film soundtracks

Releases

Track listing

Nomination and ratings

See also

References