Unfathomably, for an artist whose film The Great Caruso inspired the careers of many leading opera singers, and whose RCA album of the name was the first operatic LP to sell a million copies, CD compilations of tenor Mario Lanza have long emphasized the lighter part of his recorded legacy. Indeed, as I argue here, the casual buyer/listener would be hard pressed to know that there was more to Lanza than the Great American Songbook and "Be My Love." And yet the tenor made some extraordinary operatic recordings, many of which are known only to his aficionados. Simply put, there has never been a single consistently outstanding CD compilation of Lanza's operatic recordings.
Until now, that is.
I'm delighted to announce that UK-based Sepia Records will be releasing the CD Mario Lanza: Greatest Operatic Recordings on February 9, 2015. This is a Lanza compilation that (for once!) lives up to its title. While it may not contain all of Lanza's greatest operatic performances---no single disc could---my good friend Vincent Di Placido is right on the money when he describes its contents as "all killer, no filler." (Vince, by the way, played a major role in ensuring that the vinyl transfers made for this disc were of the highest-available quality.) And while all of the selections were chosen by Lanza biographer Armando Cesari and me, I can assure you that neither of us has any commercial interest in this CD!
Until now, that is.
I'm delighted to announce that UK-based Sepia Records will be releasing the CD Mario Lanza: Greatest Operatic Recordings on February 9, 2015. This is a Lanza compilation that (for once!) lives up to its title. While it may not contain all of Lanza's greatest operatic performances---no single disc could---my good friend Vincent Di Placido is right on the money when he describes its contents as "all killer, no filler." (Vince, by the way, played a major role in ensuring that the vinyl transfers made for this disc were of the highest-available quality.) And while all of the selections were chosen by Lanza biographer Armando Cesari and me, I can assure you that neither of us has any commercial interest in this CD!
What's on the CD?
1. Von Flotow: Martha. M’apparì [1950]
2. Mozart: Così fan tutte. E voi ridete [1958]
3. R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Di rigori armato [1955]
4. Puccini: La bohème. Che gelida manina [1949]
5. Puccini: Tosca. Recondita armonia [1950]
6. Puccini: Tosca. E lucevan le stelle [1950]
7. Puccini: Madama Butterfly. Vogliatemi bene [Live performance with Frances Yeend, soprano, 1947]
8. Puccini: Turandot. Nessun dorma [Live performance] [1948]
9. Cilea: L’Arlesiana. È la solita storia (Lamento di Federico) [Live performance, 1948]
10. Verdi: Rigoletto. È il sol dell’anima…Addio! Addio! [Live performance with Mary Jane Smith, sop., 1949]
11. Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana. Mamma, quel vino è generoso (Addio alla Madre) [1950]
12. Leoncavallo: Pagliacci. Vesti la giubba [1958]
13. Giordano: Andrea Chénier. Un dì all’azzurro spazio (Improvviso) [1950]
14. Giordano: Andrea Chénier. Come un bel dì di maggio [1950]
15. Giordano: Fedora. Amor ti vieta [1955]
16. Meyerbeer: L’Africana. O paradiso [1955]
17. Verdi: Otello. Dio ti giocondi [Outtake with Gloria Boh, sopano, 1955]
18. Verdi: Otello. Dio! Mi potevi scagliar (Monologue) [1955]
19. Verdi: Otello. Niun mi tema (Death of Otello) [1958]
[76 minutes]
Track #17---a ten-minute duet from Otello---is especially noteworthy, as this is not the more familiar commercially released version with the great diva Licia Albanese, but a recording made four months before that rendition. And as great as Lanza is on the Albanese version, he's even better here: more musical, more vocally resplendent, and more terrifying in his characterization of Otello. (The sound quality is acceptable given that the original source was a scratchy 1955 acetate.)
More information about this CD, including specific recording details of each track, can be found on our forum here.
I'll leave you with a paragraph from my liner notes for this disc:
"This CD brings together for the first time arguably the best of Lanza’s live and studio operatic recordings, beginning with the tenor’s forays into lighter, lyric parts, then moving gradually into heavier spinto territory and, finally, dramatic roles. As such, it should be a revelation to many. For the tenor presented here is not the sometimes-erratic artist one hears on numerous lightweight compilations, but an opera singer—and a potentially great one at that. Of course, some will baulk at that description, citing the fact that Lanza performed only two complete roles. But as musicologist Matthew Boyden reminds us, '[That] is a little like claiming that a painter is only ever an artist when his or her work has been shown.'"
The CD is available from Amanzon.com here and at Amazon.co.uk here. A cheaper option (particularly for those outside the UK) is also available here.
1. Von Flotow: Martha. M’apparì [1950]
2. Mozart: Così fan tutte. E voi ridete [1958]
3. R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Di rigori armato [1955]
4. Puccini: La bohème. Che gelida manina [1949]
5. Puccini: Tosca. Recondita armonia [1950]
6. Puccini: Tosca. E lucevan le stelle [1950]
7. Puccini: Madama Butterfly. Vogliatemi bene [Live performance with Frances Yeend, soprano, 1947]
8. Puccini: Turandot. Nessun dorma [Live performance] [1948]
9. Cilea: L’Arlesiana. È la solita storia (Lamento di Federico) [Live performance, 1948]
10. Verdi: Rigoletto. È il sol dell’anima…Addio! Addio! [Live performance with Mary Jane Smith, sop., 1949]
11. Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana. Mamma, quel vino è generoso (Addio alla Madre) [1950]
12. Leoncavallo: Pagliacci. Vesti la giubba [1958]
13. Giordano: Andrea Chénier. Un dì all’azzurro spazio (Improvviso) [1950]
14. Giordano: Andrea Chénier. Come un bel dì di maggio [1950]
15. Giordano: Fedora. Amor ti vieta [1955]
16. Meyerbeer: L’Africana. O paradiso [1955]
17. Verdi: Otello. Dio ti giocondi [Outtake with Gloria Boh, sopano, 1955]
18. Verdi: Otello. Dio! Mi potevi scagliar (Monologue) [1955]
19. Verdi: Otello. Niun mi tema (Death of Otello) [1958]
[76 minutes]
Track #17---a ten-minute duet from Otello---is especially noteworthy, as this is not the more familiar commercially released version with the great diva Licia Albanese, but a recording made four months before that rendition. And as great as Lanza is on the Albanese version, he's even better here: more musical, more vocally resplendent, and more terrifying in his characterization of Otello. (The sound quality is acceptable given that the original source was a scratchy 1955 acetate.)
More information about this CD, including specific recording details of each track, can be found on our forum here.
I'll leave you with a paragraph from my liner notes for this disc:
"This CD brings together for the first time arguably the best of Lanza’s live and studio operatic recordings, beginning with the tenor’s forays into lighter, lyric parts, then moving gradually into heavier spinto territory and, finally, dramatic roles. As such, it should be a revelation to many. For the tenor presented here is not the sometimes-erratic artist one hears on numerous lightweight compilations, but an opera singer—and a potentially great one at that. Of course, some will baulk at that description, citing the fact that Lanza performed only two complete roles. But as musicologist Matthew Boyden reminds us, '[That] is a little like claiming that a painter is only ever an artist when his or her work has been shown.'"
The CD is available from Amanzon.com here and at Amazon.co.uk here. A cheaper option (particularly for those outside the UK) is also available here.
Back cover of the CD booklet
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