My Romance
contains a selection of love songs
Mario Lanza
sang on The
Show in the early '50s, in addition to two
RCA Victor
recordings from 1956. The
Show was a Sunday-evening
CBS
radio program that featured
Lanza
and guests such as
Gisele MacKenzie
singing with
the Ray Sinatra Orchestra
, led by
Frank Sinatra
's second cousin.
Ray Sinatra
is the conductor on all of the performances here except for the two 1956 recordings. The songs are studio recordings -- not live audience takes -- so the quality is as high as
's commercial recordings. The anthology isn't exclusively devoted to broadcast recordings, nor does it outwardly emphasize that aspect of the collection. Instead, it is designed to look like nothing more than a collection of love songs, which makes one wonder why
's biggest hit,
"Be My Love,"
was not included. Nonetheless, the songs that are included are romantic, even thrilling, with
's powerful but subtle and well-controlled voice interpreting great songbook selections by
Rodgers & Hart
,
Lerner & Loewe
, and
Jerome Kern
. Despite the noncommercial origin of most of the recordings, only
"All the Things You Are"
is previously unreleased. ~ Greg Adams