20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Mantovani & Hi

• Artist: Mantovani & His Orchestra
• Rating:
• Release Date: June 20, 2006
• Total Time: 51:48
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Easy Listening

Review

The 2006 U.S. Mantovani entry in Universal Music's discount-priced best-of series 20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection (released through the Hip-O/Decca subsidiary) contains 16 tracks and is not to be confused with a similarly titled but entirely different 12-track disc compiled for international release in 2005. Compilation producer Joseph S. Szurly (also author of the grammatically challenged boilerplate liner notes) has selected performances from 13 Mantovani LPs released between 1958 and 1977, including versions of the hits "Charmaine," "The Moulin Rouge Theme (Where Is Your Heart)," "Cara Mia," "Around the World," and "Theme from Exodus (Ari's Theme)," albeit not necessarily the hit recordings, as well as Mantovani's takes on such standards as "The Way You Look Tonight," "September Song," and "Some Enchanted Evening." At the end, Szurly tries to make a case for Mantovani's classical bona fides by including the eight-minute "Warsaw Concerto," although it is actually, as he acknowledges, a piece of film music, not a classical composition. At the modest price, the disc will give a listener a good sense of the conductor's soft, string-filled style. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Charmaine	Erno Rapee	Mantovani	(3:08)
Moon River (for the film Breakfast at Tiffany's)	Henry Mancini	Mantovani	(2:31)
Cara mia		Mantovani	(3:02)
Almost There		Mantovani	(2:55)
The Way You Look Tonight, song (from the film "Swing Time")	Jerome Kern	Mantovani	(2:49)
September Song, song for voice & piano (from "Knickerbocker Holiday")	Kurt Weill	Mantovani	(2:41)
Our Last Affair		Mantovani	(3:14)
Swedish Rhapsody No. 1, for orchestra ("Midsommarvaka"), Op. 19~[Excer		Mantovani	(2:40)
Some Enchanted Evening, song (from "South Pacific")	Richard Rodgers	Mantovani	(3:31)
Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt (A Walk in the Black Forrest)		Mantovani	(2:01)
Moulin Rouge, film score~Theme	Georges Auric	Mantovani	(2:51)
Exodus, film score~Main Theme	Ernest Gold	Mantovani	(3:12)
The Big Country, film score~Theme	Jerome Moross	Mantovani	(2:58)
Around the world in 80 days, film score~Around The World	Victor Young	Mantovani	(2:05)
Londonderry Air (Danny Boy), folk song	Traditional	Mantovani	(4:13)
Warsaw Concerto for piano & orchestra (for the film "Dangerous Moonligh	Richard Addinsell	Mantovani	(7:57)

Credits

Harold Adamson (Lyricist), Johnny Mercer (Lyricist), Joseph S. Szurly (Compilation Producer), Joseph S. Szurly (Liner Notes), Ryan Null (Photo Coordination), Lew Pollack (Lyricist), Stephan Moore (Research Assistant), Lee Lange (Lyricist), Junie Osaki (Design), David Redfern (Photography), Monique McGuffin (Production Manager), Dorothy Fields (Lyricist), Percy Faith (Adaptation)