Mario Lanza at HOME- a passionate 1952 Tell Me, Oh Blue, Blue Sky (Giannini-Flaster)

[pianist527]

Beautiful and grand.

[fabrizzzio48]

Caruso would kneel in appreciation for this.

[stevevandien]

Lanza wasn't perfect, but he was VERY damn good. Given most of our current operatic tenors (some excepted: Heppner, also Alagna at his best; and Domingo keeps rolling along), we should certainly welcome such a rich and exciting voice today. It's ridiculous to assert, as some still do, that Lanza's voice was small. Many who heard him live and unamplified, including Licia Albanese, Richard Bonynge and Joan Sutherland, confirmed that his voice was substantial and powerful --

[Luckynumber78]

Hear, hear!

[derekmcgovern]

Many thanks for uploading this. I prefer this version to Lanza's Albert Hall rendition of six years later. There's more light & shade here and more poetry. But what I especially love about this performance is the way Mario turns a fairly ordinary song into something quite memorable. He tells a *story*, and his performance has everything: intensity, power, tenderness. The interpolated high note is thrilling. Listen to others singing this (eg, Hampson & Warren) & the song is dullness personfied.

[khankonchak]

Mr. McGovern: Thank you for your observations, perspicacious as always. Lanza's sincerity and lack of affectation separate him from the competition here. For all his vocal splendor, Warren is too straightlaced- he does almost nothing with the words. And while I greatly admire Hampson as well, his reading seems too calculated and disingenuous.

[khankonchak]

Lanza, on the other hand, never comes across as artificial here. His wholehearted embrace of the material is a feature one finds consistently in his recorded ouevre, even when the voice is not at its best, or when a particular song or arrangement is mediocre.

[stevevandien]

I don't agree that Hampson and Warren's versions are "dullness personified." Hampson's rendition was the first I'd heard of this song as a young baritone 20 years ago. I found Warren's a few years later. Both IMO are lovely. I'd never heard Lanza's rendition until quite recently. It too is very fine  --

[derekmcgovern]

On second thoughts, "dullness personified" *is* overstating things. But I agree with Khankonchak that Warren's too straitlaced here, & I find with Hampson that there's a slight air of the Victorian drawing room in his delivery. I never feel with Hampson's English song recordings that he loses himself in his material; he's always very controlled. Lanza, in contrast, wears his heart on his sleeve, & as broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh recently observed, is never hampered by *too much* technique.

[stevevandien]

OK, upon reconsidering, I understand. Warren is perhaps a little too, how to put it, stiff? And you make an EXCELLENT point regarding Hampson. I have felt that from him as well, and you expressed it precisely with the "Victorian drawing room" image. No one could accuse Lanza of either stiffness or being too controlled. At his best he has that fine balance between giving himself wholeheartedly to the music without going overboard or forcing his voice --

[derekmcgovern]

"At his best he has that fine balance between giving himself wholeheartedly to the music without going overboard or forcing his voice." Well said, Stevevandien!

Incidentally, you may be interested in the Lanza Google site that I run. It includes a lively forum, lots of essays, reviews, etc, and a number of rare recordings that you may not have heard. I can't type in the URL here, as the system doesn't allow it, but if you search for "Mario Lanza, Tenor" in Google Groups, you'll easily find it.

[stevevandien]

Thanks very much for your compliment and your information -- I shall certainly check your Google site out:). Best, Steve

[sospello]

This a wonderful post and the background information is very much needed for better perspective on Lanza and his vocal gifts. Thank you.

[pianist527]

And great it is. What a wonderful statement and how true you are. Yes he did record a few not so good songs. Yes his fantastic voice was not so splendid at times. But my God, how very few those times were! I do not think there was ever a more beautiful tenor voice although I might admit a few can be compared to his. Just compared not greater or more beautiful. Thank you very much for posting this pearl. Is always an enormous joy to listen to one more new video of Lanza. Thanks Sean

[ShawDAMAN]

I of course have the London rendition of this but I'm not at all sure I don't prefer this one. A bit more subtle perhaps, and I feel a more moving interpretation, as you indicate.. Many thanks for the post.. =)

Oddly enough, (or perhaps not so odd) I prefer the sound of Lanza's voice like this to many of his studio recordings. You can get a better read on it without all the echo/reverb and in-your-face quality of some of his commercial takes. What a voice.

[Ivanhoe2]

Just over 50 years ago I heard him sing this moving song in the Royal Albert Hall. His rich voice filled the vastness of that auditorium. He sang the same programme a few days later when I was again fortunate enough to be present. Many thanks for posting.

[stevevandien]

I certainly envy you for having heard Lanza live:). How I wish I could have done the same, but Lanza died almost exactly one month before my first birthday. Thanks for your message and God bless! Steve