Gershwin - Porgy and Bess - Leontyne Price, William Warfield, Cab Calloway - 19522CDS - ADD Digital Remastered - 62'08, 77'09
Guild 2008
Performer: Joseph James, William Warfield, Helen Dowdy, Helen Colbert, Howard Roberts, Leontyne Price, John Macurdy, Cab Calloway, Ray Yeats
Conductor: Alexander Smallens
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Live recording, Titania-Palast, Berlin - 21. September 1952
A famous -- and tremendous -- Porgy and Bess no Gershwin lover should miss
What a surprise, and what a performance! A famous evening in the theatre has unexpectedly surfaced on CD. It captures not only Leontyne Price's youthful, rending Bess and William Warfield's grizzled Porgy; the whole enterprise flies with a sense of great drama caught on the wing. And for a touch more stardust, there's the great Cab Calloway as Sportin' Life. -- Gramophone [7/2008]
Of course, there are cuts, but Porgy gets his Buzzard Song, and none of the cuts are disfiguring; Maria's "rap" song ("I hates yo' struttin' style") is the biggest loss. This performance moves propulsively and it sweeps the listener along with it. The sound is good radio broadcast quality from 1952, and everything is clear, with almost no distortion to speak of. This is a wonderful performance. --Amazon customer
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