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Miklos Rosza's Concerto Casts a 'Spell'

In 1946, composser Miklos Rozsa won the Academy Award for best musical score for Alfred Hitchcock's <i>Spellbound</i>.
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In 1946, composser Miklos Rozsa won the Academy Award for best musical score for Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound.

The Academy Award nominations were announced this week, including 5 nominees for best music score. Back in 1946, Miklos Rozsa won the Oscar for his score to Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound. Rosza later turned parts of his music into a small piano concerto.

From a concert a few weeks ago in West Palm Beach, Daniel Spalding leads the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, along with pianist Gabriela Imreh in the "Spellbound" Concerto by Miklos Rosza. Listen for the "theramin," an eerie electronic instrument played by Kurt Coble, that perfectly portrays the Hitchcock chills we know and love.

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