Gershwin: Porgy and Bess William Warfield

• 1 Introduction 02:03
• 2 Summertime 02:20
• 3 Oh, nobody knows when de Lawd is goin' to Call 01:32
• 4 I been sweatin' all Day 01:21
• 5 Summertime - Seven come, seven to Pappy! 00:58
• 6 Lissen to yo' daddy - A woman is a sometime Thing 03:00
• 7 Here's the ol' crap Shark! 01:50
• 8 No, no, Brother 01:41
• 9 Here comes Big Boy! 02:07
• 10 Don't you ever let a woman grieve You 02:03
• 11 Oh, little Stars 01:57
• 12 Jesus, he's killed Him! 02:53
• 13 Gone, gone, Gone 03:20
• 14 Come on sister - Overflow 02:11
• 15 A saucer-Burial setup, I See 02:28
• 16 I ain't never done nuttin', Boss (I can't Puzzle...) 01:12
• 17 My man's gone Now 03:25
• 18 How de saucer stand now my Sister 01:47
• 19 Oh, the train is at the Station 02:32
• 20 Oh, I'm agoin' out - It take a long pull to get There 02:52
• 21 Oh, I got plenty o' Nuttin' 02:36
• 22 Mornin', Lawyer, lookin' for Somebody? 04:21
• 23 'Lo Bess, goin' to Picnic? 02:39
• 24 Bess, you is my woman Now 04:36
• 25 I stayin' with Porgy - Sho' you Goin' 03:05
• 26 Goodby, Porgy 01:19
• 27 I ain' got no Shame 01:43
• 28 It ain't neccesarily So 05:48
• 29 Crown, I got something to tell Yo 01:24
• 30 Oh, what you want wid Bess? 03:04
• 31 Interlude 02:58
• 32 Honey, dat's all de breakfast I got time For 01:49
• 33 It take a long pull to get there, Huh! 02:01
• 34 I think dat maybe she goin' to sleep Now 00:53
• 35 Oh, Doctor Jesus 01:57
• 36 Oh dey's so fresh an' Fine 02:03
• 37 I'm talkin' about devil Crabs 02:20
• 38 I lonesome here all by Myself 01:41
• 39 I wants to stay Here 02:50
• 40 Why you been out on that wharf so long, Clara? 01:41
• 41 The hurricane is rampaging Violently 00:40
• 42 Oh, de Lowd shake de Heavens 01:17
• 43 One of dese mornings you goin' to rise up Singin' 01:05
• 44 Oh, dere's somebody knockin' at de Do' 02:24
• 45 If Gawd want to kill Me 01:15
• 46 A red-Headed woman make a choo-Choo Jump 03:41
• 47 Clara, don't you be Downhearted 03:28
• 48 Ha ha ha - You low-Life Skunk 01:24
• 49 Summertime 01:19
• 50 Interlude - Death of Crown 01:04
• 51 Introduction 07:47
• 52 Turn me Loose 01:34
• 53 There's a boat dat's leavin' soon for New York 03:31
• 54 Introduction 01:14
• 55 Dem white folks sure ain' put Nuttin' 07:55
• 56 Oh Bess, oh where's my Bess 01:36
• 57 Where Bess Gone? 00:57
• 58 Oh Lord, I'm on my Way 02:52
• Total Runtime 02:19:23

Info for Gershwin: Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin’s only opera, the masterwork of American music theatre, had to fight hard on its way to its German audience as it was ostracised as “nigger music” in the Third Reich. The blockage was only broken by the legendary production by Robert Breen which was toured first in the US and then across Europe from 1952 until 1955. The present recording documents the guest performance of the ensemble at the Berliner Festwochen 1952. The conditions were ideal: the music director, Alexander Smallens, had also conducted the New York premiere in 1935. He inspired a stellar cast of soloists to perform on the highest level. Amongst them are William Warfield, Cab Calloway and also the young Leontyne Price; this is probably the very first sound document on which she can be heard. Here is a captivating document of the highest musical and dramatic intensity, making the listener hold his breath atmospherically and dramatically from the first to the last minute.

The production is part of our series „Legendary Recordings“ and bears the quality feature „1st Master Release“. This term stands for the excellent quality of archival productions at audite. For historical publications at audite are based, without exception, on the original tapes from broadcasting archives. In general these are the original analogue tapes, which attain an astonishingly high quality, even measured by today‘s standards, with their tape speed of up to 76 cm/sec. The remastering – professionally competent and sensitively applied – also uncovers previously hidden details of the interpretations. Thus, a sound of superior quality results. CD publications based on private recordings from broadcasts cannot be compared with these.

“There is singing, shouting, crying, arguing, fighting, intermittent praying, dancing, howling, stamping […]. Nobody seems to be acting but simply offering their unique temperament, vitality and sheer existence.” (Berliner Kurier, 18 September 1952).

This historical set is a major document: In 1952 the State Department sponsored a European tour of Porgy & Bess that was to last more than three years. This performance comes from a radio broadcast of a live performance in...…

Leontyne Price (Bess)
William Warfield (Porgy)
Cab Calloway (Sporting Life)
John McCurry (Crown)
Eva Jessye Choir
Rias-Unterhaltungsorchester
Alexander Smallens, Dirigent

Live Recording - Titania Palast, Berlin 21 September 1952

Digitally remastered

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This album contains no booklet.