Sunday 6 December 2009

Porgy and Bess Complete (1952)

Porgy_and_bess

On the Guild Historical label, a live recording of the complete staging of George Gershwin's Porgy & Bess featuring Leontyne Price and William Warfield, featuring Cab Calloway as Sportin' Life

Download: Porgy_and_Bess_Complete_1952.rar

In 1952, when the first virtually complete recording of the work was made for American Columbia (CBS) the US State Department subvented a world tour which lasted over three years and which brough the opera to many countries including Britain, Italy, South Africa and many countries in South America. It was this world tour that first alerted audiences to the mastery and vocal beauty of soprano Leontyne Price, and this recording comes from a broadcast by the company in Berlin, September 21, 1952