Serenade/A Cavalcade of Show Tunes

Serenade/A Cavalcade of Show Tunes
Compilation album by Mario Lanza
Released	2004
Genre	Opera, show tunes
Label	BMG UK

The Mario Lanza CD Serenade/A Cavalcade of Show Tunes is a Sony BMG UK "twofer", released in 2004.^[1] Comprising the RCA soundtrack album from the film Serenade, and the RCA LP A Cavalcade of Show Tunes, the CD also includes a previously unreleased version of the song "Serenade" by Nicholas Brodszky and Sammy Cahn. An entirely different song from the one featured in the actual film of Serenade, this recording is noteworthy for its difficult tessitura, including a number of high B naturals.

The soundtrack to Serenade, recorded in 1955 (RCA-1996), contains some of tenor Mario Lanza's most acclaimed operatic performances. These include the Monologue "Dio! mi potevi scagliar" from Otello, "Lamento di Federico" from L'Arlesiana, "Di rigori armato" from Der Rosenkavalier, "Amor ti vieta" from Fedora, and "O paradiso" from L'Africana. Lanza also sings Schubert's "Ave Maria," Rossini's "La danza," and the Neapolitan song "Torna a Surriento" by Ernesto De Curtis. The conductor on the operatic arias was the Academy Award-winning Musical Director Ray Heindorf. See e.g.^[2]

The CD concludes with the 1956 album A Cavalcade of Show Tunes (RCA-2090), arranged and conducted by Henri René. Among this collection of 12 musical comedy and operetta standards, Lanza sings Franz Lehár's "Yours Is My Heart Alone" from The Land of Smiles, "Only A Rose" from Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King, and "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" from Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta.

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