A hearty welcome back to four composer-conducted anthologies from Decca’s vintage Phase 4 catalogue, the Miklós Rózsa double-pack a particularly welcome resuscitation in this, his centenary year. Although Ben-Hur (1959) remains Rózsa’s most high-profile achievement (and deservedly scooped him the last of his three Academy Awards), it’s good to be reminded of the considerable virtues of his sumptuous score for the 1951 MGM epic Quo Vadis. In his detailed accompanying essay Alan Hamer recalls Rózsa’s bitter disappointment on how hamfistedly his music had been dubbed onto the final print, often submerged beneath the dialogue or extraneous sound effects (the film’s producer, Sam Zimbalist, was adamant Rózsa’s music was too loud). Thanks to Stan Goodall’s judicious balance (to say nothing of the gorgeous glow of London’s much-missed Kingsway Hall), we can now revel anew in the sweep and spectacle of such terrific set pieces as the “The Burning of Rome”, “Ave Caesar” and “Chariot Chase”.

The 46-minute sequence from Ben-Hur (recorded at Walthamstow) sounds only marginally less lustrous, and newcomers can rest assured that in these 1977-78 sessions the septuagenarian composer encourages the National PO and RPO to give of their best.

Dutton has also cannily restored Bernard Herrmann’s first commercial recording of his own film music: made in 1968 and originally entitled “Music from the Great Movie Thrillers”, it concentrates on his illustrious association with Alfred Hitchcock and the four pinnacles of Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960) and Marnie (1964). Performance-wise, though, the highlight is arguably the delicious concert piece entitled A Portrait of “Hitch”, fashioned by Herrmann from his engagingly mischievous score for the 1955 black comedy The Trouble with Harry.

This famous collection is tethered to a pleasing 1963 concert devoted to Vienna-born Ernest Gold (1921-99), best known for Exodus (for which he won an Oscar in 1960) and his partnership with director Stanley Kramer, which includes On the Beach (1959), Judgement at Nuremberg (1961) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). Sonically speaking, both productions have come up as fresh as new paint in these transfers. Attractively presented and temptingly priced, I can’t imagine many film-music fans will be able to resist.