A Cavalcade of Show Tunes

[Derek McGovern]

Dennis was lamenting on another thread that the 1956 Cavalcade of Show
Tunes album "only ever seems to get passing referrals". I agree, and
I'd actually been thinking of starting a thread on this very topic.
Although, as Mike's just pointed out on the Beautiful Love thread,
some of us here did discuss the album at length on a previous forum
(around the time that the BMG twofer CD Serenade/ Cavalcade came out),
that seems like an eternity ago now *and* there's no longer any public
record of those posts.

So, Dennis, here's another opportunity to give the Cavalcade album its
due!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the original LP, it was
Lanza's second concept album (the first was the unfortunate "Lanza on
Broadway") and it was recorded in August and September, 1956. Most of
the songs were from rather dated operettas (The Vagabond King, The
Firefly, Naughty Marietta, etc) but, as I wrote in the liner notes to
the BMG twofer, Mario managed to reinvigorate "these endearing
warhorses with his customary passion and exuberance". He's in great
vocal form here -- rich, luscious timbre with a terrific upper
register -- and his singing, although wayward at times, is more even
than it'd been in his Coke Show days. (Just compare, for example, his
All the Things You Are, Yours is My Heart Alone, and Donkey Serenade
here with their respective Coke versions.) This is a man in his full
vocal maturity.

The highlights for me are Only a Rose (not to be confused with the
later duet version with Judith Raskin), Yours is My Heart Alone (not
the version on the 3-CD, All the Things You Are, Will You Remember,
and The Donkey Serenade. Rose Marie is the one I'm least keen on,
notwithstanding a knockout B-flat at the end and amazing breath
control. But more from me on these another time...meanwhile, Dennis
(and others): what are your thoughts on this album?

[Derek McGovern]

Just a clarification re my first post on this thread: when I wrote
that "The highlights for me are...Yours is My Heart Alone (not the
version on the 3-CD", I didn't complete the parentheses. (That's what
comes of writing posts at 6am!) What I'd meant to say was that the
Cavalcade version of Yours Is My Heart Alone is not the more familiar
rendition heard on the 3-CD Mario Lanza Collection and BMG Greatest
Hits discs. It's only been released on the BMG UK twofer mentioned
earlier, plus a Reader's Digest set in 1994.

[Den]

Hi Derek
Thanks for bringing this topic up
This has always been one of my favourite albums ever since
it's first issue as an LP, and of course I now own the twofer
I have always thought that the orchestrations were ageless
No matter how many years from it's concept
The LP is long since worn out, but I do get it out to play now and
then
Dennis

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Dennis: I'd certainly agree that some of the arrangements on this
album sound as fresh today as they must have done back in 1957, when
the LP was first released. One of my favourites is Only a Rose, which
really is the perfect showcase for Lanza's talents. Tramp! Tramp!
Tramp! is lots of fun too. At times, though, on a few of the other
songs, I feel that the strings dominate too much: Thine Alone, for
example. (Vocally, this is not one of the better tracks either.)

It's interesting that the Jeff Alexander Choir were actually present
in the studio with Lanza for this album. In the case of the Lanza on
Broadway album three months earlier, they'd recorded their
contribution at a later stage. How they must have marvelled, though,
at the incredible improvement in Mario's singing and vocal quality in
such a short period! The Cavalcade album certainly was an amazing
turnaround. As Orlando Barone rightly points out, if the potentially
career-ruining Lanza on Broadway LP had proven to be Mario's final
album, "we would today be discussing his irrevocable decline." Thank
God it wasn't! I can only imagine what it must have been like for
Lanza's more musical admirers hearing the Lanza on Broadway album in
late 1956 and assuming that his voice was gone, only to discover the
Mario of yore again just a few months later.

[Den]

PS.My favourites are, All the things you are,Tramp!Tramp!Tramp!
Only a rose,The donkey serenade.Giannina mia
Sweetheart is a little too sweet, he really piles it on on this one
Den

> > (and others): what are your thoughts on this album?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Sam]

I may have told this story before, but it is worth repeating again.
In high school I took "Cavalcade" and played it for my music teacher
from beginning to end. At the conclusion he said: "Wow, I am
emotionally wrung out!" I will never forget that very telling remark!!

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Muriel]

Hi Sam: I can well understand what your music teacher meant after
listening to A Cavalcade of Show Tunes. What a varied compilation of
songs - something for everyone. I've just listened to the whole CD
tonight and I feel exactly the same way! Here are my favorite
excerpts:

"Every road I walk along, I've walked along with you. No wonder I am
lonely. The sky is blue, the night is "cold". The moon is new, but
love is "old"." (Hear the "cry' in the voice?) "And while I'm waiting
here, this heart of mine is singing, 'Lover, come back to me'." Well,
he goes a bit primal on that last note, but what a sensual
presentation of a blues song from Mario. I love the arrangement as it
conjures up a vision of Cyd Charisse dancing (in her sexy way) to
Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. The sassy brass only adds to the mood. Of
course, that's Lover, Come Back To Me.

The Donkey Serenade: As I accompany Mario on a lively canter, I am
made breathless by the number of words he has to sing in a short
space, as well as how long he holds those notes!! It's remarkable and
a memorable rendition.

"You are the angel glow that lights a star, the dearest things I know
are what you are. Some day my happy arms will hold you, and some day
I'll know that moment divine, when all the things you are, are mine."
What exquisite lyrics and Mario does full justice to them. This was my
favorite recording of the song until I heard the one that was supposed
to be in Because You're Mine. However, this Cavalcade one is what we
hear on most CD compilations, and rightly so. All The Things You Are

"All that makes life seem worthwhile dwells in your eyes and the spell
of your smile. There is no song half so sweet to me as your voice
whispering, 'I love you, dear!'" Yours Is My Heart Alone should be
considered one of the greatest declarations of love of all time. It
has been recorded in many languages by many artists, but Mario's wins
the gold medal for eloquence, elocution and extraordinary expression.

"In thine arms enfold me, my beloved. Let thine eyes look fondly into
mine. For thy love bears a spell all too wondrous to to tell. 'Tis a
rapture that's all divine...." Yes, I confess I am quite taken with
Thine Alone and I hold my breath until Mario reprises that last "thine
alone!". We all have our weaknesses, eh?

"Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart, will you love me ever? Will you
remember this day, when we were happy in May, my dearest one?
Sweetheart, (oh) sweetheart, sweetheart, though our paths may sever,
to life's last faint ember, will you remember, springtime, love time,
May..........." Now, that's amore!!

And, last but certainly not least: "Only a rose I give you...only a song
dying away...Only a smile to keep in memory, until we meet another day...
Only a rose to whisper, blushing as roses do...I'll bring along a smile
and a song for anyone...Only a rose for you!!!

There are segments from a few other songs on this album that I could
highlight, but I think you understand how special this album is to me.
For example, did you hear the lovely mezza voice "....where your fancies
roam...." in Gypsy Love Song?

This is a remarkable vocal bouquet from Mario for our enjoyment, and,
hopefully, for many generations to come...Cheers, Muriel

[Mike McAdam]

Okay, little Maryland gal...what a one-eyed, everlovin' Lanza fan you
are. And, what an articulate woman with a great writer's flair.
Pleasure to read your stuff first thing in the morning while sipping
my cuppa.

I'm always amazed how every flippin' cut on this record is great.
There's not a dud among 'em!. I have the LP, the CD and the CD from
LP...the latter wins for silky sound...right, Muriella?
best, M.

[Muriel]

Hi there, Early Bird! Have the snow clouds up there gone away yet?
Glad your day is beginning nicely.
Yes, I agree that I could have written something about each song on
Cavacade. I hate to admit it, but my LP to CD Cav is even better
than the twofer released by BMG a couple of years ago. I think I
commented on that to Derek at the time, as well. I bought the LP
brand spanking new and was tickled pink when I played it!

My day looks to be a busy one, but I'll try to return before
long....Ciao bella! M.

[bruckner_1]

Hi Muriel -

Thanks for the nice comments about "Lover come back to me". I feel
much better about mentioning it now. It really was a song I didn't
pay much attention to before, but Mario's version really hit home with
me. I'm glad you like it to.

Best regards, Jeff

[Muriel]

Hi Jeff, I'm glad you like Lover Come Back To Me also. As Derek wrote,
it is either thumbs up or down for this song. Funny how Mario can make
us pay attention to something we didn't notice before, isn't it? I was
drawn to it the first time I heard the album and it has stayed with me
ever since. Mario caught the mood perfectly for me.

Don't ever think a song isn't worth mentioning, as bringing it up
often initiates some of the best discussions. I'll go to a song I had
not heard for ages, and discover something charming. That's always a
good thing!! Ciao, M...

[Derek McGovern]

Muriella's delightful post earlier in this thread inspired me to
revisit some of the Cavalcade numbers on the original LP.

Yes, the LP sound is better than on the BMG twofer CD (Serenade/A
Cavalcade of Show Tunes): it's warmer and more vibrant. The twofer CD
isn't bad, and in another respect it does have the advantage of
including the (accidentally??) deleted high B ending to Thine Alone,
but in terms of sound reproduction it's a shame BMG UK decided not to
do a full remastering job on it. (They told me that they just cleaned
it up a little -- removing the odd mike "pop" here & there, eg, on "Of
all the queens" at the end of Rose Marie.)

But I'd forgotten how much better the LP was by comparison. The Donkey
Serenade was quite astonishing, actually; unlike the CD, there's no
distortion and Lanza's voice is beautifully captured. Goodness, he was
in fine vocal fettle that day! Only a Rose is even more impressive,
not just in terms of the thrilling ending (one of his best), but for
the sheer bloom in Mario's voice here from top to bottom (and the song
goes quite low on "who knows" at the beginning).

Like Muriel, the Cavalcade version of All the Things You Are was my
favourite Lanza rendition of this superb song until I heard the MGM
outtake. It's much more operatic than the seductive MGM take, of
course, but both approaches work equally well, I feel. Lanza's passion
is irresistible here ("Some day, my happy arms will hold you"). His
breath control is formidable in places too, particularly at the end
when he takes "When all the things you ARE (sustaining it brilliantly
here) are mine" in one breath -- and gets away with it. When I have
more time, I'd like to return to this rendition. One thing I will say
now, though, is that I wish the arrangement had included the beautiful
but seldom-heard intro ("Time and again, I've longed for adventure,"
etc).

It's interesting that none of the renditions on the Cavalcade album
represented the first take recorded. The released version of All the
Things You Are, for example, was the fourth take made that day. (There
were 10 takes, if I understand correctly, of I've Told Ev'ry Little
Star.) Yours Is My Heart Alone was recorded on the same day as Only a
Rose, but this particular take was discarded in favour of a remake 10
days later. I'd love to hear the original!

I think the fact that Lanza was happy to do so many retakes reveals
just how much he cared about getting this album right. It wouldn't
surprise me at all if he viewed it as an opportunity to make amends
for the Lanza on Broadway sessions!

[Derek McGovern]

A PS to the above: I listened to the whole Cavalcade album in one
sitting today, and I can certainly appreciate why Sam's teacher felt
"emotionally wrung out" after doing the same! It's a genuine vocal
tour de force, not to mention representing some of Lanza's most
passionate singing. But I noticed how carefully RCA chose the order of
the tracks, placing quiet songs after "raucous" ones (eg, Gypsy Love
Song following Will You Remember), while selecting appropriate
showstoppers with which to open and close the album (Lover Come Back
To Me & Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!).

A few thoughts: The number of high notes (A-flats, As, B-flats, and
Bs) that Lanza pings out throughout the album is amazing. There's even
a high C -- Lanza's last recorded one, in fact -- in Giannina Mia.
Most of these notes are as good as anything that Mario produced during
the Coke Shows, and some of them are better. But it's the warmth of
the voice and its evenness from top to bottom that stood out the most
for me. What wouldn't I have given to hear him sing something like
Cielo e Mar on the same day that he recorded Only a Rose!

To nitpick, Mario's intonation is wayward at times on quite a few of
the tracks (eg, I've Told Ev'ry Little Star) and he's occasionally a
bit rough (eg, Giannina Mia). The strings (not Lanza's fault, of
course!) also got to me on occasion -- in fact, the arrangements
sometimes reminded me of 101 Strings or whatever orchestra it was that
Reader's Digest used to use as orchestral filler on their LP sets. But
when everything falls into place, and this happens more often than
not, the results are irresistible.

[Derek McGovern]

In my post above, I forgot to address Dennis's earlier comment that
Will You Remember is "a little too sweet; he really piles it on on
this one." Dennis: I know what you mean -- and I always smile when I
listen to Lanza's repeated "Sweetheart"s -- but in my opinion his
approach here is the only way to pull off such a sentimental song. For
a completely different rendition, listen to someone like baritone
Thomas Hampson sing it, and you'll be bored to death by his very
"proper" Victorian drawing room approach. Give me Lanza any day over
Hampson or Eddy & MacDonald on this song!!

[Den]

Hi Derek
You are right, but, it's just that 2nd "sweetheart ohhh sweetheart"
It just puts my teeth on edge
Dennis

[Derek McGovern]

One thing that struck me while playing the Cavalcade LP the other day is how nice it would have been if the album had been recorded in stereo -- and with a better balance, at times, between Lanza and Henri Rene's empathetic orchestra. On Yours Is My Heart Alone, for example, there are some interesting things going on orchestrally (especially in the middle section around the lines "My Queen shall reign/and my heart you enchain"), but most listeners would be hard pressed to hear them because the orchestra's so submerged. As much as I love Lanza's singing here, I do feel he's been recorded too closely. The problem's accentuated here because his is such a powerhouse performance. If only they'd pushed him back a bit and brought forward the orchestra, which is in pretty fine fettle most of the time on this album.

Actually, the close-miked Cavalcade recordings make me appreciate all the more the realistic balance between singer and orchestra that we hear on the SACD version of the Mario! album. On the later disc, we hear Lanza as he would have sounded from the concert stage -- working *with* the orchestra rather than dominating it.

Interestingly, Domingo, in his 1983 autobiography, makes a point of regretting that none of his recordings was made in mono. He feels that orchestras, not singers, were the real beneficiaries of stereo. That may be true, but I still feel it's better to hear the whole package -- something that mono recordings made it difficult to do.

[Vince Di Placido]

Oh! A stereo "Cavalcade" would have been fantastic! Yes, Derek, Mario
is recorded a little too closely, his vocals have no chance to
"breath" acoustically or have a natural presence unlike the "Mario!"
album where there is a more natural depth (even giving for the Living
Stereo process).
I have always loved "A Cavalcade of Show Tunes" (it's funny but it
seems to me that starting from the first track it's then every 2nd
track that's the slightly better song/performance eg 1,3,5,7,9,11 -
but I definitely love the album as a hole) Mario sounds glorious & the
voice is free & ringing, Henri Rene was a very sypathetic collaborator
& Mario definitely is enjoying himself, what an amazing turnaround
from "Lanza on Broadway".



On Apr 15, 10:41 pm, "Derek McGovern" <derek.mcgov...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Vince: I pretty much agree with your "every second track's a
standout" assessment, except for the fourth track on Side 1, All the
Things You Are, which to me is one of the highlights of this album.
(Actually, I must start a thread sometime on Lanza's different
versions of this song.) It helps, of course, that it's a superb song.
Strangely enough, I never truly appreciated it when I was younger
(possibly because of the arrangement, which I've never been all that
keen on), and I do think it's one of those songs that a person
appreciates more the older he/she gets. Incidentally, Long Ago and Far
Away is another Kern song in this category that Mario sings.

One Kern number, however, on this album that does nothing for me as a
song is I've Told Ev'ry Little Star. I simply find it too trite! It's
a shame the producers didn't think of getting Lanza to sing one or two
of this same duo (Kern-Hammerstein)'s magnificent Show Boat songs
instead. It's strange that they overlooked one of Broadway's most
significant musicals!


On Apr 22, 4:59 am, Vince Di Placido <vincent.diplac...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> > Interestingly, Domingo, in his 1983 autobiography, makes a point of regretting that none of his recordings was made in mono. He feels that orchestras, not singers, were the real beneficiaries of stereo. That may be true, but I still feel it's better to hear the whole package -- something that mono recordings made it difficult to do.- Hide quoted text -

[Vince Di Placido]

Oh! Yeah! "All the things you are" is lovely, Kern did write some
beautiful songs, I would have loved a Lanza recording of "Smoke gets
in your eyes". I'm definitely not the first to say that...
(By the way when reading my posts I seem to be dropping letters &
spelling very badly, sorry about that, I am the worlds worst typist!)

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Derek McGovern]

I thought I'd revive this discussion, partly because we've been discussing a few recordings from this fine album on the "Ultimate Lanza CD of English-language Recordings" thread, but also because I've just finished listening to the original LP from start to finish.

Orlando Barone raves about Cavalcade in a beautifully written article (no direct url available, but click on "A Cavalcade of Brilliance" and you'll find it). I especially like this part: "Most astoundingly, the voice achieves a warmth unmatched even by the magnificent 'The Student Prince' soundtrack. It's that warmth that seizes your heart and won't let go. The voice is free from bottom to top."

It was that warmth -- plus the incredible passion of the man's singing -- that grabbed me the first time I ever heard Yours Is My Heart Alone, one of the best tracks on the album. I was 15 at the time, and the recording affected me in much the same way as the Student Prince Serenade had four years earlier. (The occasion was also my introduction to the name Armando Cesari, as the liner notes on the back of the album -- a compilation released only in Australasia -- were written by that budding writer :)) I played it endlessly.

It's strange that the Cavalcade "Yours Is My Heart Alone" has appeared on so few CDs. Mr. Mannering's preferences may have had something to do with that, I suspect. He wrote a few years back that this recording was exactly the kind of performance that many listeners found too "over the top." Well, overpowering or not, I love it -- and I don't think it's ever sounded better than it does on this transfer taken directly from the LP.

I've grown a little fonder of Rose Marie, which I used to hate because of the arrangement. I still think it has an almost throwaway air about it, but I can appreciate what conductor/arranger Henri Rene was trying to do: take the starch out of this creaky number and completely distinguish it from Nelson Eddy's versions. The tracks I'm now least keen on are I've Told Ev'ry Little Star and Gypsy Love Song -- neither of which I feel suits Mario -- and Thine Alone (sorry, Tony!), which suffers, among other things, from a strained ending. (Of course, the final note -- a high B -- was omitted on the original LP, and wasn't heard until its re-release on a 1960s compilation.) But I still love the unorthodox arrangement on Lover Come Back to Me, which I think Barone describes very well in his article. (I don't agree with him at all about the ending, though. For one thing, far from being a great example of Mario's upper register, it's not especially high -- and, what's more, Mario falls off the note!) Again, this recording sounds so much better on the original LP:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/Z8NhErGo/Lover_Come_Back_to_Me.html

What are your thoughts on the Cavalcade album, people? Here are the track listings in case anyone's forgotten what else is on it:

Lover Come Back to Me

I've Told Ev'ry Little Star

The Donkey Serenade

All the Things You Are

Giannina Mia
Rose Marie

Yours Is My Heart Alone

Thine Alone
Will You Remember
Gypsy Love Song
Only a Rose
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!

[Shawn]

It's been a while since I listened to the album, I will make a point of digging it out and giving it a run through sometime in the next day or 2. :)

[Derek McGovern]

I'll be very interested in your opinions, Shawn. The highlights for me are still The Donkey Serenade, All the Things You Are, Yours Is My Heart Alone, Will You Remember and Only a Rose. "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" doesn't do a lot for me as a song, but Lanza does a great job of it (who else could pull off that ending?!). It's the same story with "Giannina Mia" -- I just can't get into the song -- but no one can say that Mario doesn't give it his all, including a pretty daring high C!

Given how obvious the rapport is between conductor/arranger Rene and Lanza, it's a shame they didn't do another concept album (perhaps a Broadway, Volume 2?) before our tenor took off for Italy. Come to think of it, Cavalcade was Lanza's last concept studio album until the Mario! LP two and a bit years later.

Cheers
Derek

[AgeofCanada]

Yes, Derek, definitely agreed that there was a strong musical rapport between Mario and Henri Rene (who also conducted for Eartha Kitt! Think "C'est si bon" etc.) and Cavalcade and the 56 Christmas Carols album highlight this chemistry. It would be interesting to know, and I can't recall from Armando's book, whether he or anyone spoke at length to the conductor about his work with Lanza. It would indeed be fascinating to hear any recollections from this conductor on these high points in Mario's recorded legacy.

Jeffrey

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Jeffrey: I'm not aware of any interviews with Henri Rene, though I know that Armando interviewed as many Lanza associates as he could track down. (It was certainly a lot more difficult in that pre-Internet period to locate people.) The conductors who had worked with Lanza that he did interview included Jose' Iturbi, John Green, Constantine Callinicos, Ray Heindorf, and Franco Ferrara. (And I talked to Paul Baron -- not that he was much use!)

Rene would have been very interesting, though -- not just because of the sessions that he conducted for Lanza from August 1956 to April 1957, but because he also produced the infamous Lanza on Broadway album. I would love to have heard his take on those sessions! 

Yes, Rene worked with a fascinating assortment of people, including Oreste Kirkop, Sergio Franchi, Tony Martin, and (as you pointed out) even Eartha Kitt.

Cheers

Derek 

[Vincent Di Placido]

This is a great album, Mario is in great voice! I was just listening
to "Lover Come Back To Me" & that arrangement is outgrageous but
brilliant! It is just what that song needed at that time, a fresh
makeover, as most of the songs got by Henri Rene! I have to say
Mario's expressiveness on this album is fantatsic he is so passionate
& he gives his all! I've said it before but a remake of "Lanza on
Broadway" should have been done with Rene, because the song choices
are not the problem with "Broadway" just the rare below par Lanza
vocals :-(

[Joseph Fagan]

Wow! THAT would have been great ,Vince. I never thought of that combination ( Rene and Lanza). Its such a shame because the LOB has so many great songs that we never will hear done correctly by Mario. Even if he had been in poor health at the time ( or as I think, "hung-over"), Rene NEVER would have allowed release of such a poor recording session. BTW, was LOB recorded in a single day or over a period of time?. The answer to that  may throw some light  i.e speculation on the whole mess. I am sure Derek and Armando know.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: According to RCA's recording logs, Lanza on Broadway was recorded at five sessions in 1956: on May 14, 15, 17, 29, and 31. I'm willing to bet that the last two days were when the Jeff Alexander Choir added its contributions. Assuming that Mario's singing was confined to the first three sessions, then the worst day was clearly May 14th, when he recorded (among other songs) This Nearly Was Mine and Falling in Love with Love, and the best day (if one can call it that!) May 17th, when he recorded And This Is My Beloved, You'll Never Walk Alone, On the Street Where You Live, etc.   

I was just looking at the list of musicians who played at those sessions, and I see they included Eudice Shapiro (1914-2007), the violin soloist on Mario's 1950 recording of the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria. Now she would have been interesting to talk to! I wish I'd known that she was still teaching as recently as five years ago (at Los Angeles' USC Thornton School of Music). Here's her obituary: http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/14270.html. There are also interviews with her on YouTube that I haven't had time to look at yet. I wonder if she mentions Lanza in any of them?

Anyway, given that there were 45 other musicians playing at the Lanza on Broadway sessions, surely some of them must be still alive (and able to recall those occasions). Anyone up to  spot of sleuthing?

Cheers

Derek

 

[leeann]

Cavalcade seems like such an audacious move--the kind of audacity that feeds genius--to have reached back into the past for so many of these songs and then to lift them out of the familiar--and maybe border-line hackneyed in a couple of cases and then to pack them with surprises. And this, besides giving them to us with such unity between the orchestra and the voice--Lover Come Back to Me, being perhaps the ultimate example of that. I was on the edge of my seat.

I have to say, though Derek, I do like this arrangement of Rose Marie; it seems suited to the lyrics, and actually, somehow I wonder if this easy-breezy swing might have been better for Nelson Eddy as he paddled Jeanette MacDonald across the lake.

How difficult are many of these songs to sing? What do they require of the voice? Will You Remember, for example, sounds as if it would be terribly demanding, both musically and vocally.

Thank you for pointing to the Barone article. How beautifully he brings together the musical and emotional impact of this album!  I think it is fortunate that among the wealth of Lanza's legacy, we have a few stellar concept albums that focus the range and depth of his musicality.

Derek, you mention the need for tracking down musicians who had played for Lanza on Broadway. I wondered about members of the Jeff Alexander choir, particularly since they are so ubiquitous. Have any of them ever been interviewed?  Thanks, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: Bill Ronayne recently interviewed Marni Nixon, the soprano famous for providing the singing voice for Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (among others). Nixon was in the Jeff Alexander Choir for Lanza's recordings of Will You Remember and Only a Rose. She didn't have a lot to say, but made it clear that she was impressed with his voice. Norma Zimmer, another well-known singer, was also in the Choir that day, and had the added distinction of having filmed a brief Boheme sequence with Lanza for Serenade the previous year (in which she lip-synched to soprano Jean Fenn). The scene was cut from the release print, but a number of photos have survived, including this one:

  

Ms. Zimmer was also in the Jeff Alexander Choir for the Lanza on Broadway album, but of course all of the Choir's contributions (unlike those on the Cavalcade album) were added to the recordings at a later date. So it's really only the musicians (or recording engineers) from the LOB sessions who could comment on the problems that Mario was having at that time. (The Choir must have been shocked, though, when its members heard the poor quality of his singing.) Norma Zimmer, in any event, died just over two weeks ago! Her only public reference to Lanza that I'm aware of was a fleeting mention in a newspaper interview of having performed with him at the Republic Studios. 

Other members of the Jeff Alexander Choir in 1956 included Jacqueline Allen -- the female soprano who provided the voice of the boy soprano for the Ave Maria scene in The Great Caruso -- and Bill Lee, who provided the singing voice for John Kerr and Christopher Plummer in the film versions of South Pacific and The Sound of Music, respectively. Lee died back in 1980, however, and from a quick internet search just now, it seems that Allen died in 2009. Too late again!!!

The Jeff Alexander Choir seems to have consisted of around 21 to 24 singers at any one session, so, yes, some of its members (apart from Marni Nixon) must be still alive. And come to think of it, who was Jeff Alexander? I'm assuming he was this conductor/composer/arranger (who died in 1989), though no mention of a choir is mentioned in the brief bio supplied. All I know about the Choir is that it accompanied Lanza on many recordings between 1950 and 1957, and that it also worked with Frank Sinatra.

Getting back to the Cavalcade songs and your question about their vocal difficulty, yes, many of them are very demanding to sing under Rene's unique arrangements. Nelson Eddy never had to stretch himself to close to two octaves, as Lanza does, on Will You Remember! Rene surely must have enjoyed the freedom of being to able to arrange for a singer of such extraordinary range and versatility. 

Cheers

Derek

 

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Vince: Speaking of the Cavalcade arrangements, I came across this old review today of the album by broadcaster Roy Plomley, founder of the famous BBC Radio show Desert Island Discs. Writing in Theatre World (Vol. 53) in 1957, Plomley had this to say:

I doubt I shall ever be a Mario Lanza fan because his style is too florid to suit me, and when he sings a light musical-comedy song he is liable to overload it with so much voice that it sinks. However, in a Cavalcade of Show Tunes, he is accompanied by such fanciful and grandiose orchestral arrangements that the songs are made to seem big enough to stand up to his vocal attack, and this set of twelve songs by Kern, Romberg, Friml and Co is agreeable, if loud, entertainment.

Talk about damning Mario with faint praise! "Vocal attack," "entertainment" (not art, of course), etc. Mr. Plomley obviously never took the trouble to listen carefully to the MGM Student Prince album, or he would have heard romantic, tender singing of the highest order. No "sinking" there! 

I give Plomley credit, though, for picking up on the uniqueness of the Cavalcade arrangements. All the Things You Are, for example, is rendered operatic in Rene's and Lanza's hands.

Interestingly, in the same issue, Plomley reviews Lanza on Broadway! (This is the ten-inch version issued by HMV.) Now when you think of all the things that Plomley might have written about this album, Mario got off relatively lightly:

In Lanza on Broadway the Hollywood tenor, Mario Lanza, sings ten songs from American musical shows at the top of his voice. The less pretentious [???] songs, such as More Than You Know from Great Day, are crushed under sheer weight of vocal power. 

But how could someone as supposedly musical as Plomley not have noticed Lanza's completely different vocal form and singing on these two albums, especially when he was reviewing them both for the same issue? Instead he simply makes it seem as though the only thing separating the two albums is their arrangements!

Cheers

Derek

[Derek McGovern]

I was just comparing the 1956 Cavalcade version of Kern's magnificent All the Things You Are with the discarded MGM rendition, and marvelling at how memorably Mario pulls off two completely different approaches to the same song. The MGM take, as most of us would probably agree, is one of his sweetest, most nuanced creations, while the Cavalcade take is a riveting piece of singing that is much more operatic in conception. Yet they both work, disproving once again RCA producer Richard Mohr's ridiculous claim that, "Musically speaking, one take was all that [Lanza] had."  

Feel like wallowing in one of the most romantic pieces of singing on record? Then listen to the MGM take. Want to experience the visceral delights of Lanza at his most powerful and compelling? Play the Cavalcade take. Unlike the MGM version, this later rendition isn't perfect, I'd have to admit -- there are a few blemishes along the way -- but the throbbing urgency of the man's singing here more than compensates for the odd wobbly note or (curiously) broken opening line ("You are the promised kiss/of springtime/that makes the lonely winter..."). It's not without its glorious moments of sensuousness either -- "You are the breathless hush of evening." (Great vocal painting.)  

Play the 1956 version loud, and tell me it doesn't set your pulse racing!    

Here are links to fine reproductions of both recordings:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/u2TgPmBi/All_the_Things_You_Are__Mario_.html

http://www.4shared.com/audio/t5xu-Pzv/All_the_things_you_are__1956__.html (Taken from the LP, and arguably better than the CD reproduction)

Note, by the way, that the 1956 version was the fourth (and, presumably, final) take recorded that day. I'd love to hear the first three! 

Cheers

Derek