Mario Lanza - Encore! Greatest Arias & Operatic Favorites

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Music reviews of Encore! Greatest Arias & Operatic Favorites

Music Review: Grab this one while there's still time!
Rating: 5 Stars

The recordings featured here span most of Mario Lanza's 10-year recording career. All four selections from his first RCA session in May, 1949, are included and two of them are absolute knock-outs: the sublime Che gelida Manina from La Boheme; and the Neapolitan classic, Mamma Mia, Che Vo' Sape? The Boheme aria, in particular, should dispel any notion that Lanza was not a committed artist. His phrasing is immaculate, his voice sweetly lyrical and caressing, and his climactic High C one of the most dazzling I have ever heard.

There is some inconsistency in the selections, however, with Funiculi' Funicula', Una Furtiva Lagrima, Cielo E Mar, the Flower Song, Pieta Signore, Nessun Dorma and the Libiamo from Traviata decidedly below par. Happily, though, the good choices easily outnumber the bad, and include two thrilling arias from Tosca, a cheeky Questa O Quella and a superb O Tu Che In Seno Agli Angeli from The Force of Destiny. The latter has long been unavailable on CD, and is a breathtaking display of Lanza's dramatic flair and fabulous breath control. Aficionados should note that this is the 1950 commercial recording, and not the slightly lesser version featured on the Don't Forget Me CD.

Other highlights include the equally rare A Vucchella, a Neapolitan song long associated with Lanza and an excellent example of the tenor's soft pedal. It has never sounded better, and few will be able to resist its luscious romanticism. Also sounding better than ever are five selections from one of Lanza's final albums, the 1959 Caruso Favorites. Serenata and Ideale are the best of the five, and feature the tenor at his most baritonal. The depth to the voice is staggering, and it is tantalizing to speculate on the operatic roles that Lanza might have subsequently essayed had he not died a mere four months later.

The album concludes, appropriately enough, with the heartrending Death of Otello. Recorded at the Rome Opera House a year before his death, Lanza's artistry is in full display as he avoids the unnecessary histrionics of singers past and present in this restrained, yet moving performance.

Overall, Encore is an excellent release which neatly complements BMG's only all-operatic Lanza CD, the patchy but fascinating Opera Arias and Duets, reviewed elsewhere on this site. In the meantime, a number of Lanza's finest operatic recordings still remain unavailable on CD, and let us hope that an Encore, Volume 2 is soon released.

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