Customer Reviews

Gershwin: Porgy & Bess [With Members of the Original Cast]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

this old recording, dating back to the late 30's, has poorer sound quality than later versions of P&B. it is tinny, with greater reliance on brass and horns and more tin-pan-alleyish and jazzy than later versions. however, that confirms its authentic charm and recommends its purchase.

perhaps the show did not take its subject matter so seriously initially and that is what gershwin meant to convey. it was a "blacker" show than later versions which have been more obsessed with the music's operatic quality and whitewashing the dialect and other things too politically incorrect and sensitive for today's musical producers and audiences. for that reason alone, the original show is worth getting.

this recording is interesting from a historical perspective because, as the first version of P&B, it is presumably the most indicative of what gershwin envisioned, and it is interesting to see how he originally arranged and orchestrated the songs and what was later added or changed in more recent versions.

the songs in this original version are nowhere near as lush or orchestrated as in the 1950's movie version (unavailable on cd, unfortunately...) or the more bombastic, ponderous houston opera and british versions from the late 80's and early 90's (you can have those...).

one advantage of this original score (and of the unavailable movie version...) is that it is a neat, short package of all the P&B songs, unlike the later two operas which have multiple cds and are tedious to listen to, with extended dialogue and orchestral bridges. you can listen to this one in an hour and get the full flavor of the show.

bess in the original score is operatic, but shriller than in later versions and porgy, also operatic, has a thinner voice than later porgies; that all might be due to recording quality. the original sportin' life provides the most interesting and enjoyable versions of "it ain't necessarily so" and there's a boat that's leavin'", of all versions ever done.

the gershwin heirs should make peace with the movie studio that did the motion picture version so the soundtrack can be digitalized and reissued on cd. that is the version of P&B, in lp record form, many of us were introduced to and grew up with, and the most familiar and enjoyable one, with the fullest orchestrations of gershwin's opera.

Many people think OKLAHOMA! was the first (american) original cast album - the British had been making cast albums since the days of World War I - but in fact Decca had started the practice a few years earlier offering album sets of songs from movies (THE WIZARD OF OZ, HOLIDAY INN) and Broadway shows (PANAMA HATTIE, THIS IS THE ARMY.)

In 1940 the label issued an album of four 12-inch records containing some of the key songs from Gershwin's folk opera. The reunited two of the original cast stars, Todd Duncan and Anne Brown and the original conductor from the 1935 Broadway permiere. It wasn't completely authentic since they did not use the full cast.(Eg. Todd Duncan sing's Sportin' Life's song "It Ain't Necessarily So" on this set.)

In 1942 Cheryl Crawford produced a Broadwy revival but changed PORGY into a more traditional musical play by eliminating the operatic recitative and changing it to spoekn dialogue. Decca took advantage of this to offer up PORGY AND BESS - Volume Two, a set of three 10-inch records capturing some of the songs left out of the first album.

Those two sets were later combined onto an LP which was somewhat incorrectly labeled "original Broadway cast recording." Nevertheless it's as close to the OC as we'll ever get.

Here it is in a beautiful CD remastering that sounds far better than the old fake stereo Lps that were in gereral circulation from 1959 until the end of the Lp era. Yes, they are trims in some of the numbers and the sound is not exactly high fidelity.

PORGY finally got a more complete recording by Columbia Records in 1951 (and that is out on the Masterworks Heritage label) as well as three note-complete opera recordings (London, RCA and EMI ... the RCA set is the best of the three.)

There are also a variety of Jazz interpretations. A strange album with Mel Torme and Frances Faye on Bethlehem, a highly prized album with Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte, and albums by Sammy Davis Jr and Caremen MacRae, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis.

Sammy Davis also appeared in the 1959 Samual Goldwyn film version with Sidney Poitier and Dorthy Dandridge. The film was withdrawn from circulation by the Gershwin estate in 1974 and has rarely been seen since. The Columbia Records "soundtrack" album was briefly available from SONY on CD but it too has been withdrawn. (Strangely, contract problems prevented Sammy Davis Jr from appearing on that album and his songs were redone for the record by Cab Calloway!) It is still the preferred version of "highlights" from the score for many listeners who enjoy the well-sung program and lush orchestrations.

Porgy and Bess was originally staged as musical theater, with a tough schedule; and concessions were made to preserve the perfomers' voices. The concessions, (cuts mostly) kept it completely unpretentious. And of course it was under Gershwin's supervision. I find it much more satisfying than the more "grandly operatic" versions; and Todd Duncan is unequaled. The finale when Porgy sets out in his goat cart to find Bess is a heartbreaker, unequaled by any other version.

Sound is better than the badly remastered MCA CD of the early 80's (?).

EDIT: I used mouse wheel without reclicking, and rolled the stars choice down. IT SHOULD BE FIVE STARS.

If you love great opera, little can compare to 'Pory and Bess'. By far the only great American opera, it contains a plethora of hits. "Summertime", redone by Janis Joplin, "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'", "My Man's Gone Now" and many others are considered some of the best songs and ballads ever written. The sound quality, since this was recorded circa 1930, is at times less than stellar, but it in no way detracts from the overall impact of this opera.

This has always been a wonderful collection with (mostly) the original cast. The confusion with who sings what is due to the fact that it is a compilation of two 78 rpm sets- a 1940 Decca set with Anne Brown singing the roles of Bess, Clara and Serena with Todd Duncan singing the roles of Porgy, Crown and Sportin' Life, interspersed with a second Decca collection from 1942 with members of the Cheryl Crawford revival doing the additional existing tracks. Still and all, a wonderful compilation.

Where this CD release errs, however, is in the fact that the selections have been remastered a half-tone or so lower than the original recordings, making it tough to listen to. Also, the single bonus track is from a six-side Decca collection by Avon Long and Helen Dowdy, all of which could have easily fitted on this CD. Happily, Naxos(UK) has seen to this omission. The source material for their release is from original 78's and the remastering may not sound as clean as the MCA remaster, but it is at the correct speed, and their 2CD release contains all six sides from the Long/Dowdy set, along with many other early PORGY sides. For obvious reasons, it's only available through UK outlets like Naxos UK or Amazon UK, but well worth the investment.

Porgy and Bess is kind of special to me. I grew up in the Charleston SC area (where it is based) and I know some of the relatives of Samuel Smalls (the crippled Black man who inspired Porgy in the 1920s).

That aside, this CD is a thing of great beauty. Ann Brown and Todd Duncan really do P&B justice, as well as the Eva Jessye choir in providing meaningful and moving backup. If you can listen to Miss Brown and Mr. Duncan sing that section that goes "morning time and evening time-wintertime and summertime" from "Bess You Is My Woman Now" with dry eyes-then something is really wrong with you! (In a recent PBS documentary on P&B, the now elderly Miss Brown and Mr. Duncan broke out in tears at listening to this section of that wonderful song some 60 years later).

Avon Long has the right amount of subtlety and rascalishness (if there is such a word) as Sportin' Life, but I wish they had him singing "It Aint Necessarily So" here instead of Todd Duncan, as he did in the original opera. But that's a minor complaint and doesn't detract form this CD.

For the record, this wasn't the first African-American oriented opera. Scott Joplin's "Treemonisha" was first in 1915. But that was not performed widely in public until the 1970s. Cd's of both operas are worth a listen and are interesting to compare.

Enough said. Just BUY it. It's great.

My in-laws really enjoyed listening to this. They are in their 80's and remember this music from years gone by.

This CD is OK for those who are not really familiar with the
whole opera and story, who want to hear an overview of the most
popular songs.

It was not as good as I remember the movie, but I love the music.

The Sammy Davis, Harry Belafonte version of Porgy and Bess is out of production at the request of the Gershwin heirs who did not like the way the material was treated in the film. Many of us would like to see it. Sometimes, clips from it are played on TV. Recently an episode of Frank Sinatra Welcome Home Elvis was shown on PBS. Sammy did a number from P and B on that program.