CD REVIEW
– THE
MAGIC OF MANTOVANI
The Original Recordings with
Joseph Calleja
Decca 4850894
(48:53)
When as a long
time Mantovani admirer I first
joined the Robert Farnon Society,
his name was hardly ever
mentioned. It seemed to me that
he was thought of by my fellow
light music enthusiasts as being
too "popular", much as
some people now think of André
Rieu.
Then Michael
Dutton's started re-releasing
practically all Annunzio's albums
on his Vocalion label in 2-on-1
form (several still available)
with the Society's Journal
Into Melody magazine
enthusiastically reviewing them.
And folk rightly began to really
appreciate him as the great
maestro he was.
Monty sadly died
40 years ago having been, with
his magnificent orchestra, the
first recording artist to sell
one million stereo albums. At one
stage in 1959 he had six albums
simultaneously in the US Top 30.
His success was largely due to
arranger Ronald Binge's
"cascading" strings
effect, starting with Charmaine
in 1951, that really caught the
public's attention and approval.
Dominic Fyfe's very interesting
booklet notes include the rumour
that Monty received 3000
proposals of marriage across his
lifetime.
Now with this
release (announced months ago as
'Charmaine: Mantovani & Me')
Decca are marking the 80th
anniversary of Monty's signing
– he must have made
shedloads of money for them*
– by imaginatively
remastering arrangements from the
1950s and '60s, adding the voice
of the present-day Maltese tenor
Joseph Calleja, who is much
sought after and acclaimed around
the globe, recorded with original
microphones from the period of
the type Mario del Monaco would
have sung to for a 1962 LP with
Mantovani called 'A Song for
You', which was big hit in
Japan.
As well as the
title tune, the other 16 tracks
on this new album are Monty's own
co-written Cara Mia;
Edelweiss; Bert Kaempfert's Spanish
Eyes and Strangers in
the Night; Bésame Mucho; Que
Sera, Sera; Parla Più Piano
(Speak Softly Love); Arrivederci
Roma; Moon River; Stranger in
Paradise; You'll Never Walk
Alone; Amazing Grace; and
four numbers from 'West Side
Story'.
The last-named
feature a special guest
appearance by Grammy
award-winning American soprano
Renée Fleming on Somewhere,
and introduces Operalia-winning
Italian-Canadian mezzo Emily
D'Angelo on I Feel Pretty
and the duet Tonight
with Calleja.
It is wonderful to
have the double delight of such
great voices allied to that
"tingle factor" from
the fabulous string sound, and I
enjoyed this album a lot. I hope
you do, too.
© Peter
Burt 2020
*[Editor’s
note: Not only did
Decca make make a great deal of
money from the phenominal sales
of Mantovani's records,
[especially in the US], but they
used a lot of that revenue to
finance their
frequently-expensive classical
recording activities. I have read
that they always had plenty of
Mantovani tracks 'in the can' and
would release more LPs
as-and-when the need arose. For
instance, their famous Wagner
'Ring' operatic cycle is reputed
to have been 'bankrolled' by the
huge profits accumulated from
Monty’s records.]
TC
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