The DESERT SONG - RCA Victor "Living Stereo" LP - Mario LANZA * MGM Star
New stereo recording of the Sigmund Romberg operetta. It had been filmed several times, but never with Mario Lanza (1921-1959).
Apparently by this point in his career they did not put photographs of him on his albums anymore, indeed, the line at the bottom of the rather lush cover suggests he had already died when this was released. Actually the painting sort of looks like him, it's hard to tell.
This also sort of reminds me of a Morton Gould orchestral album cover, Moon, Winds, and Stars.....
Lanza also did not appear in another Romberg operetta remake filmed prior to his death, MGM's The STUDENT PRINCE, though his voice was used on the soundtrack. British actor Edmund Purdom played the prince and did a convincing job of lip-synching Lanza's pre-recorded tracks.
Excerpt from an Amazon review of the CD reissue (with Student Prince):
Romberg's The Desert Song concludes the CD. While vocally not in the same class as The Student Prince, there are a few highlights: the haunting One Alone; Azuri's Dance; and the formidable One Flower Grows Alone In Your Garden, with its difficult tessitura. The Desert Song was Lanza's final recording, made less than two months before his death in October, 1959. Astonishingly, the album was recorded at a time when the tenor was enduring a bout of double pneumonia (in addition to numerous other ailments). Tired though he understandably is here, the magnificent voice is still intact. But for Lanza at his romantic best, buy this CD for The Student Prince selections alone.
DJ McGovern "Derek McGovern" (Busan, South Korea)
The DESERT SONG - RCA Victor "Living Stereo" LP - Mario LANZA * MGM Star
New stereo recording of the Sigmund Romberg operetta. It had been filmed several times, but never with Mario Lanza (1921-1959).
Apparently by this point in his career they did not put photographs of him on his albums anymore, indeed, the line at the bottom of the rather lush cover suggests he had already died when this was released. Actually the painting sort of looks like him, it's hard to tell.
This also sort of reminds me of a Morton Gould orchestral album cover, Moon, Winds, and Stars.....
Lanza also did not appear in another Romberg operetta remake filmed prior to his death, MGM's The STUDENT PRINCE, though his voice was used on the soundtrack. British actor Edmund Purdom played the prince and did a convincing job of lip-synching Lanza's pre-recorded tracks.
Excerpt from an Amazon review of the CD reissue (with Student Prince):
Romberg's The Desert Song concludes the CD. While vocally not in the same class as The Student Prince, there are a few highlights: the haunting One Alone; Azuri's Dance; and the formidable One Flower Grows Alone In Your Garden, with its difficult tessitura. The Desert Song was Lanza's final recording, made less than two months before his death in October, 1959. Astonishingly, the album was recorded at a time when the tenor was enduring a bout of double pneumonia (in addition to numerous other ailments). Tired though he understandably is here, the magnificent voice is still intact. But for Lanza at his romantic best, buy this CD for The Student Prince selections alone.
DJ McGovern "Derek McGovern" (Busan, South Korea)