Promotional materials for this Decca release proclaim the orchestra leader Mantovani Britain's greatest LP success before The Beatles, and indeed, his popularity in his time is rivaled only by his general obscurity in the 21st century. He's ripe for a revival, and tenor Joseph Calleja does his bit with this release. For those unfamiliar with Mantovani, his recordings were almost all instrumental, consisting of lush orchestral arrangements, mostly by Ronald Binge, of popular songs and classical melodies. His music was ...
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Promotional materials for this Decca release proclaim the orchestra leader Mantovani Britain's greatest LP success before The Beatles, and indeed, his popularity in his time is rivaled only by his general obscurity in the 21st century. He's ripe for a revival, and tenor Joseph Calleja does his bit with this release. For those unfamiliar with Mantovani, his recordings were almost all instrumental, consisting of lush orchestral arrangements, mostly by Ronald Binge, of popular songs and classical melodies. His music was designated light classical in Britain and easy listening in the U.S., but to those who loved it (and still do), it is not necessarily light or easy. The intricacy of the arrangements and the brilliance with which Mantovani realized them far exceeded those of his contemporaries. Herein lies the problem with The Magic of Mantovani: Calleja adds the lyrics of the original songs back into the original remastered instrumental tracks, and in so doing, he loses a lot of what makes Mantovani so interesting. Three of the original tracks, remastered, are included at the end of the album's digital releases. With these, one can hear what is missing: listen to the vocal and instrumental versions of Charmaine, one of Mantovani's biggest hits, and one may miss the exquisite division of the melody among different instruments in Calleja's version. This said, Calleja's versions succeed on their own terms. He has a real flair for semi-popular material, which is something the operatic scene has needed for a while, and he shifts adeptly among the various kinds of songs Mantovani adapted. Consider a song like Que Sera, Sera (which, by the way, does not mean "what will be will be" in any language): Calleja gets the American retroflex "r" that eludes most European singers. He doesn't do a straight American accent in these but rather cultivates a natural idiom with a slightly exotic accent. This is delightful, and it is likely that the album will satisfy Calleja's growing body of fans even as true Mantovani lovers may be less satisfied. ~ James Manheim, Rovi
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Add this copy of The Magic of Mantovani to cart. $9.23, good condition, Sold by Zoom Books Company rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lynden, WA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Decca.
Add this copy of The Magic of Mantovani to cart. $33.38, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by Decca.
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