An album of lush waltzes from opera, ballet but mainly the movies is a nice idea, especially one that includes an intriguing number of items that are new to CD. Particularly enjoyable are Dimitri Tiomkin's opulently embellished reworkings of Johann Strauss for MGM's 1938 film 'biography' from which this album takes its title. The selection of evocative ''waltzes Cafe waltzes'' from the forgotten Warner Brothers movie Hotel Berlin (1945), in which Franz Waxman affectionately recalls the salons of his homeland in more happier times, is another welcome rarity, whilst receiving its first recording for well over 30 years is Rozsa's brilliant set-piece from Madame Bovary (1949). This steadily accelerating waltz mirrors to thrilling effect Emma Bovary's exhilaration as she savours the high romance she's been yearning for, and here Mauceri captures her mounting elation in bravura fashion. The composer's surname, incidentally, is unforgivably misspelt throughout an otherwise attractive booklet.
The other waltzes are more familiar, with those from Der Rosenkavalier, Candide and Cinderella rubbing shoulders with their movie counterparts quite comfortably. Inevitably, however, over an hour's worth of music with the same basic tempo becomes rather wearing eventually and as a result this album does not quite possess the satisfying variety of Mauceri's earlier exploration of the film capital's past, ''Hollywood Dreams'' (9/91). Nevertheless, the performances are generally very agreeable and brightly polished, with the old MGM sound stage providing a suitably warm and solid acoustic.'