Customer Reviews

Be My Love: Greatest Performances at Mgm

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Some of Mario Lanza's soundtrack recordings make a long-awaited debut on CD with this disc. This is a collection of material from the tenor's first four movies, plus the film in which he should have appeared: The Student Prince.

The sound quality on this CD is not up to the standard of most of Lanza's BMG releases, but the disc is still well worth buying for a number of fascinating tracks that are unavailable elsewhere. The greatest of these is All the Things You Are, a recording that was inexplicably cut from the release print of Because You're Mine, Lanza's fourth movie. One of the tenor's most rapturous achievements, this is a vastly superior version to his 1951 radio version (featured on the BMG CD My Romance), and better than his 1956 rendition for the Cavalcade of Show Tunes album. "You are the angel glow that lights a star," he sings, imbuing the word "glow" with a beguiling magic that would disarm even the starchiest of critics. As an example of pure vocal poetry, this rendition is in a class of its own.

Other standouts include The Lord's Prayer - also from Because You're Mine, but here with organ accompaniment only - and the tenor's immortal Serenade from The Student Prince. Although the same rendition as originally released by RCA, Serenade features a lengthy orchestral intro and a markedly different recording mix between singer and orchestra. Lanza aficionados will also note that the men's chorus is further back than on the commercial version, and that Lanza's concluding high B-flat rings out here with greater clarity.

Equally interesting are several recordings from the Great Caruso, some of which are actually alternate takes from the versions used in the movie. Celeste Aida (one of seven takes that Lanza purportedly made of this aria) contains the soundtrack recitative but the aria itself is a different - and more lyrical - rendition. La Donna 'e Mobile is an improvement over the movie take, and Vesti La Giubba offers a tantalizing alternative to the compelling movie version. Bach-Gounod's Ave Maria, on the other hand, *is* the movie take, but the sound quality is better here, with the organ accompaniment noticeably more dominant.

Although not stated in the liner notes, much of the material presented on the disc consists of alternate takes from the movie versions. The differences are, in many cases, subtle ones, with the exception of Beloved from The Student Prince. Here we have a completely different rendition of this passionate song - the very recording, in fact, that led to Lanza's clashes with Curtis Bernhardt, the man originally signed to direct the film. Bernhardt reportedly disliked Lanza's rendition, deeming it over the top for the character of a Prussian Prince. I can now confirm that Herr Bernhardt was right! This is Lanza at his roughest, and his splendid remake a year later was a vast improvement.

Also included here is an impressive Granada, which in some ways betters the tenor's own commercial recording of the song; and a pleasant alternate take of Deep In My Heart, Dear with Ann Blyth.

The liner notes are well-written and largely accurate, and the presentation of the CD (with numerous photos) is most attractive.

Highly recommended.

Before the release of this CD, I had created a similar program by dubbing the audio tracks of Lanza movies to audio cassette. But here, the audio engineers have produced a far superior product than mine. Included are the great duets with Kathryn Grayson, which have never been relased before, and the fantastic sextet from The Great Caruso. The highlights of these movies are here but, in my opinion, the original tracks for these movies hold additional gems that were not included. Maybe a sequel?

These are all sound track recordings from Lanza's early MGM films. Never before released, they are a true collector's delight. The songs and arias had been released in alternate versions on RCA Red Label records, and usually omitted or replaced the soprano who starred in the respective movies. Here you actually get to hear Kathryn Grayson and Ann Blyth. Unfortunately, the reproduction is extremely variable, due to differing qualities of the available masters.

Incidentally, there are two really fabulous cuts: the original, lusty "Beloved," redone for the Movie, The Student Prince, and said to have been a cause of Lanza's serious falling out with his director. The second is a luscious rendition of "All the Things You Are," recorded for Beacause You're Mine but omitted from the movie and never before heard. It is one of Lanza's finest recordings of a love song.

Mario made 5 films for MGM and starred in 4 of them,only his singing remains in the 5th."The Student Prince",as he had fallen out with MGM and walked.

This CD is unique in that these songs are from the actual film soundtracks,as heard at the cinema or an alternative take.They were also recorded by RCA,with whom Mario had a recording contract,but the versions here on this CD are quite different and in some ways superior,for example Granada and All the Things You Are.The version of Beloved here is the notorious one that apparently caused all the trouble on the film set between Mario and his director,listen and judge for yourself who was correct,as this take was not included in the film.

The recording quality varies considerably because of the source material.In general the later the better as there were tremendous advances in recording technology in the late 1940's onwards.The 1948 to 1951 recordings are from the films' optical soundtracks and are not good quality,(That Midnight Kiss,The Toast Of New Orleans and The Great Caruso),despite Rhino's best efforts to clean up the sound.
However what is most surprising is some of these early tracks are in a form of stereo,not very good stereo I will admit,but interesting because of it.
There is much better news about the recordings that follow,most were recorded on magnetic tape,some in 3 track stereo(Because You're Mine and The Student Prince).
These are the first ever good quality,true stereo,Mario Lanza recordings.The difference between the sound quality on track 1 and tracks 18,19 and 20 is huge,the progress in technology in 4 years was tremendous.

I own this CD and am so pleased I do.At the time of writing it is difficult to find,perhaps a "used" CD is the best bet,thoroughly recommended.

Mario lanzas version of the act1 final from madama butterfly show,s he could have took over the opera world with no problem which is what he should have done in the first place.And i like to point out that the last 3 song,s from this cd are obviously better than the 3 versions from the rca soundtrack of mario lanza sings songs from the student prince and the desert song. this allso shows if hollywood would have just let him star in better pictures than the ones he was in things could have been grander.All the movies were bad but the songs were excellent and they show lanza could have did well in films like carousel,south pacific and kismet