CD REVIEW - NIGHT AND DAY
MARIO LANZA
SEPIA 1394 [75.10 & 75.25]

I have admired the singing of Mario Lanza, the American tenor (1921-59) born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza, since hearing him in the 1954 film 'The Student Prince' (also a No.1 soundtrack recording), and hope there are readers who share my enthusiasm for this compilation: the latest in several featuring him on this label.

Five years ago, Opera magazine described him as the best of all 20th century tenors, saying "there are no superlatives great enough to describe his magnificent voice with flawless diction, limitless power, sensuous phrasing, and fearless, dazzling top notes". The further we get from his too early death the more highly regarded he seems to become.

I will not go here into the unfortunate aspects of his short life – various websites and books do that if you are interested – as nothing can take away his vocal greatness.

CD1's 24 tracks are recordings made between 1950 and 1957 and are mainly of popular songs and film hits such as Night and Day, Be My Love (a No.1 soundtrack single '50), Long Ago (And Far Away), Because You're Mine, I'll Be Seeing You, Arrivederci Roma, Younger Than Springtime, All the Things You Are, Without a Song, Drink! Drink! Drink!, I'll See You Again, Trees, Roses of Picardy and Because.

CD2 has 25 tracks including a dozen choice operatic selections like Toselli's Serenade, Vesti La Guibba and Questo O Quella, Granada, Bizet's Agnus Dei, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, The Lord's Prayer, JS Bach-Gounod's Ave Maria, and early live radio performances of Irving Berlin's All Alone, Blue Skies and Franz Lehar's Yours is My Heart Alone.

An out of the ordinary thing about this release is that all 49 tracks are offered here for the first time in Digitally Extracted Stereo (DES), which we are told is a technological breakthrough that enables monaural recordings to be converted into multi-track stereo without compromising the integrity of the original vocals or instrumentation. The conversion has been done by Stephen Cutler. The original remastering was in the capable hands of Robin Cherry.

What we hear is enhanced by what we see in the accompanying booklet – Derek McGovern's excellent A Brief Biography of Lanza and 'About This Compilation', recording venues with dates, Musical Personnel (conductors and orchestras), Sources and photographs.

The well filled 2-CD set is available at a budget price of £10.99 (post free) from www.sepiarecords.com/sepia1394.html

© Peter Burt, January 2025