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Mario Lanza
The Best Of Everything
NEW DVD Documentary from Screenbound Pictures and
NEW 2-CD Lanza Compilation from Sony Classical

 

By Derek Mannering
1-30-17

 
 

Just over a year ago I sat down to dinner in London with producer Alan Byron of Screenbound Pictures. We were there to discuss Alan’s plans for a new documentary on Mario Lanza’s life and career, one that would celebrate rather than criticize a great singer’s legacy. No dark night of Mario Lanza’s soul for this production. Just how well Alan’s documentary eventually turned out will be determined in March when MARIO LANZA: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING is released on DVD. You can already pre-order a copy on Amazon.co.uk and if the current trailer is anything to go by, we are in for a great treat.

At the time of my meeting with Alan, I was also in talks with Sony Classical in New York for a new Mario Lanza CD. I had been pushing for an all-opera collection, a companion CD to the currently available OPERA ARIAS & DUETS and one that would effectively cover the best of Lanza’s remaining operatic recordings. However, once news of Alan’s planned tribute became known, all parties felt that a new best-of collection released at the same time as the documentary would be more appropriate.

This new compilation of popular songs and arias, which also shares the same title as the documentary, is a 2-CD release. Forty-four tracks in all are featured, recordings that span Mario’s entire recording career, from his first studio session in 1949 through to one of his last in Rome a decade later. The collection gave me the opportunity to begin another search through the Lanza archives at Sony but it’s important to keep in mind that very little “new” material remains in the vaults. The well is almost dry but as you will see from the following track list, we did come up with some choice new selections.

My ultimate goal with this new collection was to present a portrait in song of all that Mario Lanza came to represent in his time: the soaring passion, the incredible versatility, the warmth and the sheer joy he brought to virtually every performance. That, in the end, is what THE BEST OF EVERYTHING is all about.

DEREK MANNERING


MARIO LANZA: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING

Sony Classical 2-Disc Compilation - March 2017

DISC 1


  1. BE MY LOVE (RCA)

  2. LA BOHÈME: CHE GELIDA MANINA (RCA)

  3. SOME DAY (from THE VAGABOND KING) (Coke Show)

  4. BESAME MUCHO (Coke Show) ­ INTRODUCED BY LANZA

  5. GUARDIAN ANGELS (Coke Show)

  6. RIGOLETTO: QUESTA O QUELLA (RCA)

  7. SONG OF INDIA (RCA)

  8. DANNY BOY (Coke Show) ­ INTRODUCED BY LANZA

  9. DRINK, DRINK, DRINK (from THE STUDENT PRINCE) (MGM)

  10. YOU AND THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC (Coke Show)

  11. CARMEN: FLOWER SONG (RCA ­ take 2)

  12. MY ROMANCE (Coke Show)

  13. MATTINATA (RCA)

  14. NIGHT AND DAY (Coke Show)

  15. SERENADE (from THE STUDENT PRINCE) (MGM)

  16. BECAUSE (RCA)

  17. ’A VUCCHELLA (RCA)

  18. TOSCA: RECONDITA ARMONIA (RCA)

  19. WITHOUT A SONG (Coke Show)

  20. I’LL WALK WITH GOD (from the film THE STUDENT PRINCE) (MGM)

BONUS TRACKS:

  1. IF YOU WERE MINE (RCA) ­ PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED ALTERNATE TAKE

  2. THE LOVELIEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR (RCA Rome) ­ FIRST TIME ON CD


DISC 2


  1. BECAUSE YOU’RE MINE (RCA)

  2. MARTHA: M’APPARI (RCA)

  3. BELOVED (from the film THE STUDENT PRINCE) (MGM)

  4. NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART (Coke Show)

  5. FEDORA: AMOR TI VIETA (“Serenade” soundtrack)

  6. GRANADA (RCA)

  7. THINE ALONE (Coke Show) ­ INTRODUCED BY LANZA

  8. GOLDEN DAYS (from THE STUDENT PRINCE) (MGM)

  9. AIDA: CELESTE AIDA (RCA)

  10. ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE (“Cavalcade of Show Tunes”)

  11. RIGOLETTO: LA DONNA E MOBILE (RCA)

  12. ARRIVEDERCI ROMA (RCA Rome ­ English version)

  13. I PAGLIACCI: VESTI LA GIUBBA (“For the First Time”)

  14. AVE MARIA (Schubert ­ “For the First Time”)

  15. PASSIONE (RCA Rome)

  16. ONE ALONE (from THE DESERT SONG) (RCA Rome ­ as recorded, no chorus)

  17. TURANDOT: NESSUN DORMA (“Serenade” alternate take) ­ PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

  18. SIGN OFF from MARIO LANZA (“May I wish you the very best of everything in life always…”) ­ PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

BONUS TRACKS:

1. BE MY LOVE ­ PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

2. THE LORD’S PRAYER ­ PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

3. Drigo SERENADE ­ PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

4. SILENT NIGHT ­ PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED