a brief
history
of these recordings
Perry Como's
first traditional hymns recorded for the RCA Victor Records
label were produced by Charles Grean, recorded on location at
The Church of Incarnation,
New York City, on a Friday, the last day of September, 1949.
With Choir and Organ directed by Mitchell Ayres, assisted by Ray
Charles, the recordings of "Ave
Maria" and "The
Lord's Prayer" were released on a special 12" 78 RPM
record due to their length. Both recordings charted in the
United States at positions 22 and 28 respectively.
While not
a great deal is known about the recording of these two hymns,
Perry would record both again ten years later, again produced by
Charles Grean, but this time with the Male Voices of the Robert
Shaw Chorale. In October of 1959 they were recorded at the
Manhattan Center, New York City, with orchestration conducted by
Mitchell Ayres. These new 1959 recordings were released on a
limited distribution stereo single but never released again in
"Living Stereo" until three-track master session tapes were
discovered just prior to Perry's death in May of 2001.
After forty-two years in the RCA Victor Archives, these historic
recordings are now available again in real stereo for the first
time since their original issue.
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Following the success of his 1949 recordings, Perry
recorded six traditional hymns at the Academy of Arts &
Letters, New York City, again produced by Charles Grean,
with Mitchell Ayres conducting and Organ Accompaniment
by Charles Marie Courboin. Two of the hymns, "Mother
Dear, O Pray for Me" and "Holy
God We Praise Thy Name" were recorded with
the St. Patrick's Cathedral Boys Choir.
Traditional versions of the "Prayer
of Thanksgiving" and "Bless
this House" and "The
Rosary" were recorded with a Mixed Chorus and
a Women's Choir, while "Rock
of Ages" included a Male Chorus with Organ
Accompaniment only. These hymns were released as
singles and within two 45 RPM Extended Play albums. His
first full album of traditional hymns
"I Believe" subtitled
"Songs
of all Faiths Sung by Perry Como"
was first released in the original 10" LP format in 1953
on RCA Victor Records LPM-3188. All songs within the
compilation were recorded between September 24th and
November 23rd that same year. The title hymn was
recorded twice, once with Orchestra and Chorus under the
direction of Hugo Winterhalter and then again with
Mitchell Ayres. It was the Ayres version which was
released.
The original
compilation also included "Onward
Christian Soldiers," with Orchestra and
Chorus under the direction of Hugo Winterhalter, "Goodnight,
Sweet Jesus," "Act
of Contrition," "Abide
With Me," and "Nearer
My God to Thee," with
Chorus under the direction of Ray Charles ( the Ray
Charles Singers backed Como on television and record for
many years ) and two songs in Hebrew, "Kol
Nidrei," and "Eli,
Eli" again with Mitchell
Ayres and His Orchestra.
This compilation was
expanded in 1956 in the long play 12" format to include
"Ave Maria," "The Lord’s Prayer," "The Rosary," and
"Bless this House," on RCA Victor LPM-1172. All of these
recordings pre-date the stereophonic era and were
recorded in monaural only. Until recently, only one of
these recordings, "Bless this House," recorded June 26,
1950, had been released in the compact disc format (
I Wish It Could Be Christmas
Forever 4526-2-R ) and none of the others,
including "I Believe," were generally available on
compact disc. In 1999 an eclectic compilation from BMG
Special Products, which also carried the title "I
Believe",
included only two tracks from the original compilation
plus an undocumented alternate take of the title song.
Mr. Como recorded a new version of "Ave
Maria" on August 1, 1968. This version was
arranged and conducted by Nick Perito with the Ray
Charles Singers, in full stereophonic sound, and
included within his 1968 RCA Victor album "The
Perry Como Christmas Album"
LSP-4016. This album is currently available in the UK on
compact disc but the 1968 version of "Ave Maria" has
been re-released within various compilations.
In previous
interviews Mr. Como has remarked that his recordings for
"Songs of All Faiths" were not as well received as he
thought they might have been. His interpretation of
these religious standards may well have proved more
ecumenical and ahead of his time than was the record
buying public of the early 50s. His observations need to
be put in perspective, however, due to the overall
popularity of anything he recorded during this time;
even moderate sales by any other measure would have been
considered a success.
Perry Como recorded
an inspirational album in 1958 titled "When
You Come to the End of the Day" in full
stereophonic sound and containing some of the finest
interpretations of his recorded career. Produced by Joe
Reisman with Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra and the Ray
Charles Singers, arrangements by Reisman, Jack Andrews
and Joe Lipman, it was recorded at RCA Victor’s Studio
A, New York, on April 30, May 1, June 18, 19, and 23,
1958 and engineered by Bob Simpson. Although released in
stereo, sales of the monaural version likely
predominated during what was only the beginning of the
stereo era. Although there is no evidence that this
recording lacked for success, one is given to wonder
whether Mr. Como, generally considered a devout Roman
Catholic, was well received in performance of
fundamentalist Christian material. Apart from one track,
"Prayer
for Peace," these
recordings for many years were not released in full
stereo. In May of 2001, just prior to Perry's death,
these recordings were re-released in true "Living
Stereo" for the first time since their original issue.
They are now available within compact disc compilations
from Collectables and BMG's affiliate Buddha Records
label.
Perry's final
recordings were made in January, 1994, during the taping
of his Irish Christmas Special but not for the RCA
Victor Records label. Very appropriately, however, his
last recording was "Ave
Maria" arranged and conducted by his long
time conductor and good friend Nick Perito. It
became available on compact disc, CD-ROM and various
video formats. The Irish Christmas Special has been
aired annually on the PBS Network since 1994. Perry's
recordings and many performances of "Ave Maria" through
out his long career have been so closely associated with
him that it seems appropriate this should be his final
recording.
George Townsend
HQV Selekt Group
© 2001
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