Search - Mantovani :: Evening With More Mantovani Magic

Mantovani Melodies from the Seventies

Thomas E. DeJulio | Bronxville, NY USA | 05/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recently issued Vocalion double CD revives two Mantovani LPs from the early 1970s entitled "More Mantovani Magic" and "An Evening with Mantovani." The latter added more movie and television themes to the late great maestro's discography, including a hauntingly beautiful Mantovani arrangement of the Theme from "The Godfather," a lilting waltz from the PBS television production of "Upstairs Downstairs," and a joyful rendition of the "Cabaret" theme. Mantovani's sixties success with his dramatic arrangement of "More" is repeated here once again in the seventies with another Riz Ortolani composition from the Valachi Papers entitled "Remember that I Love You". The second CD, recorded with predominantly French musicians, ushers in the final decade of Mantovani's recording career at which time he was groping for melodies suitable for his style and large string orchestra, while struggling with illness. Advertised as his Silver Anniversary LP in the United States, "More Mantovani Magic" begins with the everlasting tune "Till", followed by a medley from Fiddler on the Roof, and the more classical melodies of Rasbach's "Trees" and Khachaturian's Onedin Line Theme. Each CD concludes with a Scottish tilt: a moving rendition of "Amazing Grace" and a most triumphant composition of Mantovani's early collaborator, Ronnie Binge, "The Scottish Rhapsody", which the maestro used frequently to close his many live concerts, including his last in North America in 1969. These two tracks never before released on CD make it a "must buy" for fans, new and old, of the grand master of light orchestral music."