Mario Lanza: The Great Caruso and Other Caruso Favorites [SOUNDTRACK]

Arturo Buzzi-Peccia (Composer), Enrico Caruso (Composer), Ernesto de Curtis (Composer), Stefano Donaudy (Composer), Gaetano Donizetti (Composer), Stanislao Gastaldon (Composer), Ruggero Leoncavallo (Composer), Amilcare Ponchielli (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Paolo Tosti (Composer), Italian Traditional (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Constantine Callinicos (Conductor), Paul Baron (Conductor), RCA Victor Orchestra (Orchestra), RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Mario Lanza (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Mario Lanza
• Orchestra: RCA Victor Orchestra, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Constantine Callinicos, Paul Baron
• Composer: Arturo Buzzi-Peccia, Enrico Caruso, Ernesto de Curtis, Stefano Donaudy, Gaetano Donizetti, et al.
• Audio CD (August 25, 1989)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: RCA Victor
• ASIN: B000003EV1
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #166,037 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best work of Lanza's life., October 7, 1998

By	Vince Page (Brookshire, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This piece is unquestionably the best work of Lanza's life. The CD, which takes its title from the movie of the same name, amply demonstrates the power for which Lanza is so famous. It is this CD, more than any other, to which you should refer when comparing the strengths of Caruso, Lanza and Pavarotti. It is a joy from beginning to end.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love Lanza, not my favoirte collection, July 23, 2001

By	Michael M. Welch (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Lanza is my favorite tenor and certainly he there is nothing on this CD that diminishes my opinion of him in that regard. The CD is a classic of course because of the classic movie. Nonetheless, this particular array of music is not my favorite demonstration of Lanza's talent. I'd recommend the 1949-1959 Historical Recordings CD most of all for the best of Lanza.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful voice, disputable arrangements, lack of texts, August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This recording makes it clear that rumours at the time of Mario Lanza's death of his `deteriorating voice' were gossip. The Caruso-album reveals on the whole a large, strong and gifted voice that responds duly to Sir Peter Pears' saying `A violin is a violin, and a piano is a piano, but a voice is a person'. Lanza's egality is unstressed from top to almost bottom, and he appears so humble towards his material - no overextended pitch notes -, that one may wonder whether he should not have committed himself fully to the opera. The arias from the Caruso-film carry his fresh, lively personal trade mark which hyper-aesthetics may call bad taste as much as they like, but which in fact reveals the personality. The Caruso Favourites, however, recorded just shortly before his death vary notably in quality with some Morricone's arrangement of especially Tosti's and Gabriele d'Annunzio's `L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra' (The dawn separates shade from light) as the bottom. This song which is perhaps the best, Tosti ever wrote, is disgracefully sweetened by violinistic candy-floss that makes one long fiercely for the interpretations by Jussi Björling (see below) or Carlo Bergonzi (Sony 01 060785-10). On top is Gastaldon's `Musica Proibita' which Lanza sings with so much warmth and genuine sweetness that it reminds one of Björling's lovely `Visa kring slånblom och månskära' (Ballad of blackthorn and moonlight) recorded in 1953 (EMI 7243 5 66306 2 8). Mario Lanza renders us himself purely and entirely, and it is RCAVictor who is to blame for the lack of texts in the cover and the unsuitabe arrangement mentioned above.