John W. Bubbles, William Warfield - Porgy & Bess: High Performance

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Free Music Notes for Porgy & Bess: High Performance

Free Music Review: A Desert Island Recording...
Hit: 5 Stars

To respond to some of the other reviews... John Bubbles is phenomonal as Sporting Life - he was, after all, the composer's personal choice for the role - and those who quibble that his acting is better than his voice are missing the point: "Porgy and Bess" is, first and foremost, meant to be acted! (And, truth be known, I like his voice...)

Which brings us to the legendary Leontyne Price/William Warfield combination. After listening to this again (and the restored sound is wondrous), I felt that a definition of Hell would be to have to follow Leontyne Price in this - or ANY - role. She owned the role of Bess by the time this recording was made, and her acting and vocal skills are matchless (It's possible that the opening "..Ooooh.." in "What You Want Wit' Bess?" is one of the sexiest and most dramatic ten seconds in the history of recording). William Warfield is not far behind in his portrayal of Porgy - it is beatifully sung, if not as convincingly acted as some of the other characters.

But that said, what makes this recording absolutely matchless - and probably forever - is the playing of the nameless 1960's New York studio musicians who comprise the "RCA Victor Symphony Symphony Orchestra." What they bring to the "pit" is what is missing from virtually every other "Porgy" recording: the innate swagger, confidence, and panache that come from a career of working with one foot firmly in the "symphonic" world and the other firmly in the "commercial" (in New York's, case, Broadway/Jazz) world. It is the equivalent of listening to Johann Strauss performed by the Vienna Philharmonic: unique, absolutely right, and unduplicatable. Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of place, but also time... the environment that nurtured these musicians was soon to disappear, and it's been "Gone, Gone, Gone..." for many years now.

But it lives on in this recording. I played it for a friend of mine not long ago who was unprepared for the experience - I looked at her fifteen minutes into it and there were tears rolling down her cheeks. Mine, too.

Porgy & Bess: High Performance Poster

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