Mario Lanza - Mario! Lanza at his best (2006)

The early lost tenor Mario Lanza (38 yo) was immensely popular at the 50's and his voice was considered by many to rival that of Enrico Caruso. The CD was first released by RCA at 1995 and consists of two original Lanza's albums: the Neapolitan songs album Mario!, recorded in December 1958, and The Vagabond King operetta, recorded in July 1959. This BMG/SONY 2006 re-release is in the SACD format but the rip offered is from a conventional CD player. Enjoy a collector's item.

Mario Lanza (January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor, actor, and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian immigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16. He was born Alfred Arnold Cocozza. He changed his name to Mario Lanza when he appeared at the Berkshire Music Festival in Tanglewood, Massachusetts, in July–August 1942. His mother's maiden name was Maria Lanza.

After appearing at the Hollywood Bowl in 1947, Lanza signed a seven-year contract with MGM's head, Louis B. Mayer, who saw his performance and was impressed by his singing. Prior to this, the adult Lanza had sung only two performances of an opera. The following year (1948), however, he would sing the role of Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly in New Orleans. His movie debut was in That Midnight Kiss (1949) with Kathryn Grayson and Ethel Barrymore. The following year, in The Toast of New Orleans, his featured popular song "Be My Love" became his first million-selling hit. In 1951, he played the role of Enrico Caruso (1873–1921), his tenor idol, in the biopic, The Great Caruso, which produced another million-seller with "The Loveliest Night of the Year" (a song which used the melody of Sobre las Olas). The Great Caruso was the top-grossing film that year.

The title song of his next film, Because You're Mine, was his final million-selling hit song. The song went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. After recording the soundtrack for his next film, The Student Prince he embarked upon a protracted battle with Studio Head Dore Schary arising from artistic differences with director Curtis Bernhardt, and was eventually dismissed by MGM. Lanza was known to be "rebellious, tough, and ambitious", and during most of his film career, he suffered from addictions to overeating and alcohol which had a serious effect on his health and his relationships with directors, producers and, occasionally, other cast members. Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper writes that "his smile, which was as big as his voice, was matched with the habits of a tiger cub, impossible to housebreak". She adds that he was the "last of the great romantic performers". He made three more films before dying of an apparent pulmonary embolism at the age of 38. At the time of his death in 1959 he was still "the most famous tenor in the world". Author Eleonora Kimmel concludes that Lanza "blazed like a meteor whose light lasts a brief moment in time".

Mario! Lanza At His Best is a CD released by RCA Victor in 1995, and consists of two original albums recorded by tenor Mario Lanza. These are: the Neapolitan songs album Mario!, recorded in December 1958, and The Vagabond King, recorded in July 1959. The Mario! album has been singled out for special praise, with its star conductor Franco Ferrara of Rome's Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia later hailing Lanza's singing on the disc as "vocally extraordinary…a Caruso-type voice." Lanza's first studio album in stereo, the Mario! selections include the Neapolitan songs "Voce 'e Notte," "Canta Pe' Me," "'Na Sera 'e Maggio," and "Passione." The arrangements were created by Carlo Savina and Ennio Morricone.
The Vagabond King, an operetta by Rudolf Friml, was recorded three months before Mario Lanza's death in October 1959. The selections include "Love Me Tonight," "Nocturne," "Only a Rose," and the "Drinking Song." Lanza is accompanied on several songs by the soprano Judith Raskin, who recorded her contributions a year later in New York. The conductor was Constantine Callinicos.
Note: In February 2006, this album was reissued by BMG/Sony in the sonically superior SACD format. This new CD can be played on both SACD players and conventional CD players.

TRACKLIST

1958 album "Mario!"
Orchestra & Chorus, Cunductor: Franco Ferrara

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 Licive
10. Tu Ca Nun Chiagne
11. 'Na Sera 'E Maggio
12. Passione

1959 album "The Vagabond King"
Judith Raskin: soprano
Orchestra & Chorus, Cunductor: Constantine Callinicos

13. The Vagabond King - Drinking Song
14. The Vagabond King - Someday
15. The Vagabond King - Love Me Tonight
16. The Vagabond King - Only A Rose
17. The Vagabond King - Tomorrow
18. The Vagabond King - Love For Sale
19. The Vagabond King - Hunting
20. The Vagabond King - Nocturne
21. The Vagabond King - Instrumental Interlude & Nocturne (reprise)
22. The Vagabond King - Huguette Waltz
23. The Vagabond King - Song Of The Vagabonds
24. The Vagabond King - Finale


Credits and thanks to the initial ripper / uploader who made this post possible