The Touch Of Your Hand - Mario Lanza

 

Strange Music

The Touch Of Your Hand

Mario Lanza - Tenor

With Orchestra Conducted by Ray Sinatra

RCA Victor LM-1927

1955

From the back cover: From the vantage point of 1955 there seems little doubt but that Mario Lanza's career has been one of the great success stories of modern music. The son of a Spanish mother and an Italian father, Lanza was born in South Philadelphia and, evidencing an early interest in music, is reported to have been – at the age of ten – far more than merely familiar with the plots and principal arias of the standard world in the operatic repertoire. Both Lanza and his father were immensely interested in the career and art of Enrico Caruso, and both were avid collectors of his phonograph records. During his teens, young Lanza undertook singing lessons, which he paid for by working in his grandfather's trucking business, and eventually went to study at Tanglewood. It was here, during a performance of Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor, it which he essayed the role of Fenton, that his rich, virile voice for the first time came to the attention of a reasonably large public. The critical response to his performance was extraordinary, and he was now set for an active musical career when the Army called.

The Army, however, did not manage to slow down Lanza's musical activities. He appeared in a Special Services production entitled On The Beam, and as a result was assigned to the Moss Hart production of Winged Victory with which he remained until he was mustered out in 1945. Upon his separation from the Army, Lanza was signed in rapid succession by both RCA Victor and Hollywood – and his overwhelming success in both media is a matter of public record. In the film capital he appeared in four productions – That Midnight Kiss, The Toast Of New Orleans, The Great Caruso and Because You're Mine – as well as lending his voice to the sound track of The Student Prince. From his first film came the renowned success, Be My Love; The Great Caruso gave us The Loveliest Night Of The Year, and the tile tune from Because You're Mine was, if anything, of only slightly less sensational proportions. And it should be remember that these lighter selections, akin to what Lanza gives us in this album, are in addition to the operatic repertoire which he has consistently practiced with such distinction.

Here, the Lanza voice is raised in an amazing varied program, among whose individual selections each of us is certain to find a surprisingly large number of her personal favorites. From the pastry-like confections of the operetta world we heard Romberg's stirring Desert Song, Herbert's melodious I'm Falling In Love With Someone ("Naughty Marietta"). There are those well-loved selections which, seemingly, have been with us forever, and which will undoubtedly be forever part of our musical life – The Hills Of Home and Oh, Night Of Splendor; there are those touching popular melodies with a classical  background such as Strange Music (Grieg); there are those ingratiating show tunes which have deservedly become a major part of the American scene – Kern's Lock For The Sliver Lining ("Sally"), That Song Is You ("Music In The Air"), You Are Love ("Show Boat"), The Touch Of Your Hand ("Roberta"), and Cole Porter's I've Got You Under My Skin (from the film "Born To Dance"). And, finally, there are those popular songs which, simply because they have hit upon that elusive magic formula, have remaining both popular and ever-new – Noel Coward's Someday I'll Find You, Blaufuss' Your Eyes have Told Me So, Ray Noble's Love Is The Sweetest Thing, And Rube Bloom's Day In – Day Out.

All of this material is "popular" in the best sense of the term simply because an artist of Lanza's capability and stature makes it so for us. In every on of his performances there is not only a definite interest in, and understanding of, the music under consideration, but a readily apparent love of life which brings goth vitality and enthusiasm to the most widely divergent material. In his eyes it is all music worthy of the same deliberation and artistry, and in his voice it come to us with its meaning secure and its beauty enhanced. – Bill Zeitung

Kern - The Touch Of Your Hand (from Roberta)

Kern - The Song Is You (from Music In The Air)

Zamecnik - Oh, Nights Of Splendor (Neapolitan Nights)

Coward - Someday I'll Find You

Blaufuss - Your Eyes Have Told Me So

Forrest and Wright - Strange Music (from Song Of Norway) (from Grieg's Wedding Day In Troldhaugen)

Romberg - The Desert Song (from The Desert Song)

Kern - You Are Love (from Show Boat)

Blood - Day In – Day Out

Noble - Love Is The Sweetest Thing

Herbert - I'm Falling In Love With Someone (from Naughty Marietta)

Kern - Look For The Sliver Lining (from Sally)

Porter - I've Got You Under My Skin (from the M-G-M film Born To Dance)

Fox - The Hills Of Home