Search - George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Andre Previn :: Porgy & Bess (1959 Film Soundtrack)

GREATEST PERFORMANCE OF GERSHWIN'S SCORE EVER!

08/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the greatest crimes ever committed against the music and video buying public is the Gershwin Estate's denial to us of seeing and hearing and, most important of all, judging for ourselves, the merits of the Samuel Goldwyn film of PORGY AND BESS. Even worse, today's video buyers have to suffer through a boring, execrable EMI video made for public television in order to view PORGY AND BESS, thereby seeing Gershwin's masterpiece in the worst possible light. The 1959 film starred Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge, but both had their songs dubbed by operatic singers. Unlike the long out of print American Columbia sound track LP, this CD import actually credits the voice of Robert McFerrin (the father of jazz singer Bobby McFerrin) as Porgy. Still uncredited are singers Adele Addison (Bess), Loulie Jean Norman (Clara) and Inez Matthews (Serena). A special treat on this album is Cab Calloway as "Sportin' Life", who replaces Sammy Davis Jr. from the film, whose voice could not be used on the sound track album due to his exclusive contract with another record label. Calloway is far better suited to this role and his performance adds an edge to the character missing in Davis' more comic turn in the film. Calloway's vocals are backed up by the identical orchestral tracks (conducted by Andre Previn) used in the film for Davis. Although this version of Porgy and Bess was not well liked by the Gershwin family because it was treated more as a Broadway Musical than an opera, this film was immensely popular in its time and has gained stature over the years. The film was recently named one of the 100 greatest film love stories by the American Film Institute. The release of this matchless film on home video would be a cause for rejoicing. Andre Previn's conducting and especially Ken Darby's excellent choral direction have never been bettered in any performance of PORGY AND BESS. The 1959 sound track contains all the major musical sequences from the film and is arguably the finest version of Gershwin's score ever released to the music buying public. Amazingly, this album has never been released in the US on CD (with very limited distribution elsewhere). This import CD offers the most ideal way of hearing this magnificent sound track music short of a domestic CD release."

LONG-LOST SOUNDTRACK OF A TROUBLED MOVIE . . . . .

J. T Waldmann | Carmel, IN, home to the fabulous new Regional Perf | 03/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 1995 CD from the German Back Bite label is a curious release. The occasional ticks and pops indicate that it is an LP-transfer to which too much noise reduction has been applied. The tape hiss is gone, but so are the upper ambient frequencies, giving it a peculiar "boxed-in" sound. Recorded in stereo, it has a very nice spatial feel with the orchestra placed behind the singers. However, at times the chorus seems too distant, too far away from the action. (Sounds great in the car, however.)



I agree wholeheartedly with Michael Portantiere's comments in The TheaterMania Guide to Musical Theater Recordings: ". . . Cab Calloway['s] . . . engaging performances . . . lack the sense of menace that the character needs. Despite its flaws, this recording is worth tracking down if only for baritone Robert McFerrin's extraordinary performance of Porgy's music . . . and Adelle Addison's lovely singing for Dandridge . . . both rein in their operatic voices for the film but they still sing beatifully, under the tasteful, respectful musical direction of Andre Previn and Ken Darby."



Perhaps Ms. Addison "reins in" her voice just a bit too much; I would have preferred a little more passion, especially in "What You Want With Bess?" and "I Loves You Porgy." (For an excellent example of "stage vs. movie" singing, compare Giorgio Tozzi's Emile De Beque on the 1959 film soundtrack of SOUTH PACIFIC and the 1976 Lincoln Center Cast recording.)



Not having seen the film, I can only assume that director Otto Preminger softened the roles of Bess and Sportin' Life to conform to the regulations of Hollywood's infamous Production Code (aka the Hayes Office). It most certainly would have been denied a code of approval if two of the major characters were a whiskey-guzzling "easy" woman and a drug dealing pimp - especially since neither had to "pay for their sins." Preminger challenged the Code with three other films - The Moon Is Blue (1953), the first film to use the words "virgin," "seduce," and "mistress;" The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), a film which graphically dealt with drug abuse; Anatomy of a Murder (1959), rape is the central issue - but I have a feeling he played it safe with Porgy, a major studio Samuel Goldwyn Production. (For further information about the film, go to the ISAM [Institute for Studies of American Music] website at htpp://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/isam.)



Because Ira Gershwin and the Gershwin estate were unhappy with Preminger's film treatment, rights to the movie were rescinded during the 70s. As a result, the film has never been legally transferred to video and only a few public showings have been allowed. When the hassles regarding the film are finally settled, hopefully the engineers at Sony/BMG will track down the original master tapes and produce a truly fine restoration of this long-lost movie soundtrack. All the proper ingredients are there; they just have to be pulled together.



Additional weirdness abounds on the CD's sleeve. None of the singers are listed - (Pearl Bailey and Brock Peters did their own singing, Loulie Jean Norman dubbed Clara's songs, and Inez Matthews sang the role of Serena. Sammy Davis, Jr. also sang his own songs, but Cab Calloway replaced him on the recording - due to contractural reasons) - and all of the photos are from some unidentified production of the opera, not from the movie. This recording may not be perfect, but right now it's all we have.



Recommended."

Required listening. Sublime.

!an | Beat City | 05/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cab Calloway, as Sportin' Life, steals the recording. (For contractual reasons, he had to replace Sammy Davis Jr.(?), who was in the film. Lucky for us.)

Despite the Gershwins' own criticism, I believe this is the definitive version of the opera.

Let's hold our breath for the release of the film.

~!an"