Heppner: My Secret Heart. Songs of the Parlor Stage, And Silver Screen. Ben Heppner, tenor; Jonathan Tunick, London Philharmonic Orchestra. RCA 09026-63508-2.

Heppner: My Secret Heart. Songs of the Parlor Stage, And Silver Screen. Ben Heppner, tenor; Jonathan Tunick, London Philharmonic Orchestra. RCA 09026-63508-2.

Move over, Lanza! Tenor Ben Heppner provides an old-fashioned, unabashedly romantic album of songs his "mother wished he had sung." The collection contains sentimental favorites such as Eric Coates' "Bird Songs At Eventide," Haydn Wood's "Roses of Picardy," Sammy Fain's "I'll Be Seeing You," Sigmund Romberg's "Serenade" and "Dessert Song," Rudolf Friml's "Love Me Tonight," Noel Coward's "I'll See You Again," and, of course, Nicholas Brodszky's "Be My Love," among others. All of the songs derive from the period in which Heppner's mother grew up, the time between the two World Wars.

Like the songs themselves, the sound is big and bold, the accompaniment provided by nothing less than the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Heppner's husky operatic voice is fine tuned for these melodies, and he appears to be having fun doing them. For anyone raised on the pop music of the last forty years, the disc will be a complete mystery. For others it may seem simply nostalgic. For me, it was a wonderfully refreshing experience to hear grand old standards sung anew with such evident enthusiasm and consummate polish, an experience I look forward to again and again with much anticipation, starting just as soon as I turn this computer off.