Original New York Cast - Porgy & Bess (1962) - Lp

Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera composed in 1934 by George Gershwin, with a libretto written by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin from Heyward's novel Porgy and later play of the same title.

Porgy and Bess was first performed in New York City on September 30, 1935, and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time.

Gershwin read Porgy in 1926 and proposed that he should collaborate with Heyward on Porgy and Bess. In 1934, Gershwin and Heyward began work on the project by visiting the author's native Charleston. Gershwin explained why he called Porgy and Bess a folk opera in a 1935 New York Times article: "Porgy and Bess is a folk tale. Its people naturally would sing folk music. When I first began work in the music I decided against the use of original folk material because I wanted the music to be all of one piece. Therefore I wrote my own spirituals and folksongs. But they are still folk music – and therefore, being in operatic form, Porgy and Bess becomes a folk opera." The libretto of Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a disabled street-beggar living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina. It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, her drug dealer. Where the earlier novel and stage-play differ, the opera generally follows the stage-play.

The 1940 album was the first to record selections from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess as sung by members of the original Broadway cast from 1935. The only singers involved were Todd Duncan as Porgy and Anne Brown as Bess. Duncan sang "It Ain't Necessarily So", which is sung in the opera by Sportin' Life. Anne Brown sang "Summertime" (first sung in the opera by Clara) and "My Man's Gone Now" (sung in the opera by Serena).

After Porgy and Bess was revived on Broadway in 1942, Decca brought the cast from the revival together to record more songs not already recorded two years earlier, issuing a new "Volume Two." This recording originally came on 3 ten-inch shellac records,

A few years later, Decca re-released the albums as on LP set entitled Selections from Porgy and Bess in February 1950, (DL 7006), deceptively billing it as "the original cast album" though only selected members of two separate casts participated.


Side A
A1.  Anne Brown – Overture And Summertime
A2.  Edward Matthews Assisted By Harriet Jackson With Eva Jessye Choir – A Woman Is A Sometime Thing
A3.  Anne Brown With Eva Jessye Choir – My Man’s Gone Now
A4.  Edward Matthews – It Take A Long Pull To Get There
A5.  Todd Duncan With Eva Jessye Choir – I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’
A6.  Todd Duncan With Eva Jessye Choir – Buzzard Song
A7.  Todd Duncan And Anne Brown With Eva Jessye Choir – Bess, You Is My Woman

Side B
B1.  Todd Duncan With Eva Jessye Choir – It Ain’t Necessarily So
B2.  Anne Brown And Todd Duncan – What Do You Want Wid Bess?
B3.  Helen Dowdy Assisted By Gladys Goode – Strawberry Woman’s Call
B4.  William Woolfolk Assisted By Georgette Harvey – Crab Man’s Call
B5.  Todd Duncan And Anne Brown – I Loves You, Porgy
B6.  Eva Jessye Choir – The Reqiuem
B7.  Avon Long And Anne Brown – There’s A Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New York
B8.  Todd Duncan With Eva Jessye Choir – Porgy’s Lament And Finale

Credits

• Choir – Eva Jessye Choir
• Conductor – Alexander Smallens
• Liner Notes – Louis Untermeyer
• Orchestra – Decca Symphony Orchestra
• Vocals – Anne Brown, Todd Duncan 
• Written-By – Gershwin

Notes

Release: 1962

Genre: Stage & Screen 

Style: Musical

Label: Brunswick Records

Catalog# BDV 173251

Vinyl: Goed

Cover: Goed

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