Mario Lanza - Mario! Lanza at His Best - Living Stereo RCASAM71625 (2006) SACD rip via PS3 to iso (3.31GB) | 24bit/88.2kHz flac | 3ch (2.37GB) (+5.74dB gain) | 2ch (1.52GB) DR11 (+4.99dB gain) | Recorded in 1958 & 1959 | Classical Opera This is the final piece of the 60 part Living Stereo Series. I have included the booklet of the CD version of the series as a PDF. ------------------------- Allmusic: This is not exactly the Mario Lanza "best-of" album its title might imply; it consists of recordings made during the last 18 months of the great crossover tenor's life, when he was beginning to suffer serious effects from the health problems that killed him in the fall of 1959. Still, it's hard to hear much of an effect from those problems -- a diminution of sheer vocal power in the selections from Rudolf Friml's musical The Vagabond King that make up the 2nd half of the disc, perhaps, but no loss of the singer's broad, generous lyric impulse. Lanza was an operatic star who never quite got the chance to be an opera star. He took the lead role in the biopic The Great Caruso & sang Italian songs like those heard on the 1st half of the disc, but substance abuse brought him down just as he was preparing a sustained effort to reach the operatic stage. It's hard to imagine a career like his flourishing in the present day: there's plenty of crossover music, certainly, but no place in the pop world for a singer with a big Italian voice. After you hear this album, you'll feel that's a shame. The Neapolitan songs that open the disc are period pieces; a few of them have cheesy wordless backing choruses & odd arrangements with extended harmonies, drawn from the language of musical comedy, that don't quite fit. Still, they're nothing less than irresistible. On the Vagabond King selections, a few unreleased tracks from soprano Judith Raskin are added to make a rough outline of the whole show. The opening "Drinking Song" may cause one to wish that Lanza hadn't been so quick to affirm that "a flagon of wine will do." But sample the "Nocturne" & see if you don't agree that it's 1 of the great love serenades on records. RCA's Living Stereo sound was a major engineering accomplishment in the beginning, & the SACD remastering here is stupendous -- as good as it gets. Every bit of orchestral detail is there in total clarity. Check this album out & learn why an operatic singer was once at the top of the pop charts. Amazon reviews: .....I was simply blown away by the beautiful reproduction of Lanza's singing on the 12 tracks that constitute the tenor's 1958 "Mario!" album of Neapolitan songs. For once, the balance between singer & orchestra is perfect, & with the exception of 1 track (the slightly muted Comme Facette Mammeta), I have never heard this album in better sound. Unlike the 1995 conventional CD version of this release, Lanza is no longer overly forward at the expense of Franco Ferrara's superbly conducted orchestra, & the sandy quality that marred many of the tracks on that earlier disc has all but disappeared. The sound is simultaneously richer & brighter. As with the 1995 CD, the great Mario! album is coupled here with The Vagabond King, recorded in July, 1959 - 7 months after the earlier album. Although not in the same class as the Mario! album - either vocally or soundwise - this is also the best I've ever heard this recording. The highlights (Drinking Song, Love Me Tonight, Nocturne, etc) belie Lanza's failing health, & offer overwhelming proof that just 3 months before his death, the old romantic magic was still intact. This CD also includes a previously unreleased reprise of the lovely Nocturne. All in all, then, this is a magnificent release, & 1 that whets the appetite for further SACD Lanza couplings. Top on the list of deserving recordings would be a "twofer" of the 1958 For the First Time soundtrack coupled with the 1959 Mario Lanza Sings Caruso Favorites, both of which are Living Stereo releases sorely in need of decent sound reproduction. How about it, BMG/Sony? ------------------------ To be pretentious, this is the Lanza recording for the vocal connoisseur. Eighteen months before he died, Lanza went to Italy and recorded for RCA a group of twelve Italian songs with an orchestra conducted by Franco Ferrara. Everything went well with the project. The tenor was in truly glorious voice, and recorded the songs with style, passion, and commitment. This recording is a thrilling showcase of just how great a tenor Lanza was - for its duration, he is one of the greatest voices of the 20th Century. If you love the sound of a beautiful tenor voice in Italian songs, treat yourself to this CD. It will be a gem in your collection. Try to obtain the hybrid SACD on which even the CD layer is in wonderful sound. Available here? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mario-Lanza-Best-Vagabond-Hybrid/dp/B000E1NWHI or here: http://www.amazon.com/Mario-Lanza-Best-Hybrid-SACD/dp/B000E1NWHI Tracks: 01. Funiculi Funicula 02. Dicitencello Vuie 03. Maria Mari 04. Voce 'E Notte 05. Canta Pe' Me 06. O Surdato 'Namurato 07. Comme Facette Mammeta? 08. Santa Lucia Luntana 09. Fenesta Che Lucive 10. Tu Ca Nun Chiagne 11. 'Na Sera 'E Maggio 12. Passione 13. Drinking Song 14. Someday 15. Love Me Tonight 16. Only a Rose 17. Tomorrow 18. Love for Sale 19. Hunting 20. Nocturne 21. Instrumental Interlude And Nocturne (Reprise) 22. Hugette Waltz 23. Song Of The Vagabonds 24. Finale Time: 79 mins -----------------------------------------