Search - George Gershwin, Lorin Maazel, Cleveland Orchestra :: Gershwin: Porgy and Bess

Not too shabby....

Arthur Bosarge | Alabama USA | 01/22/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Lorin Maazel leads the Cleveland Orchestra in a very cut and dried performance of the most magnificent of American operas, but what takes up the slack here are the performers themselves. Williard White, as he proved almost 20 years later in the bombastic Rattle recording, is THE Porgy, tragic and passionate. Equally wonderful is Leona Mitchell as Bess and the lady who sings Maria (her name evades me). McHenry Boatwright reprises his role as Crown from the earlier Price/Warfield recording, and Francois Clemons is the slimy Sporting Life.



This recording is for those who seek an alternative to the Simon Rattle version, which is altogether bombastic and sluggish, whereas this Maazel recording is a little lacking in the Jazz and Theatrics Department. Nonetheless, an admirable recording. Thanks to those at Decca who decided to rerelease this. Another option as far as complete Porgy and Bess goes is the Houston Grand Opera recording, which is the closest of all three to a perfect record."

A Definitive, Lovingly Performed Porgy

Ronald P. Martin | 04/18/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Maazel's ground-breaking, revelatory first performance of Gershwin's masterpiece in its entirety. Maazel leaves nothing out (except "Lonely Boy", Bess's lovely duet with Serena, which does not appear in the published score), and his approach is loving, respectful, and intensely operatic. This is the first recording to reveal the scale of Gershwin's opera. Make no mistake about it, Maazel's Porgy is grand and ambitious, very much what George had in mind. And although at times Maazel is just a little stiff and European in his approach, he is never boring; the orchesta plays as if its life depended on it; and the singing is glorious. I might add that the Decca analogue sound is some of the finest ever. This recording is a real classic.



Either get this or the Simon Rattle / Glyndebourne on EMI if you really want to know what Gershwin's opera is about. Maazel's version is much better recorded, has glorious singing, and conveys the excitement of new discovery, while Rattle has a better hold on the work's structure and idiom. (Still, Rattle's greatest virtue is his understanding of the composer's intensely personal, American approach to recitative; in this regard he is clearly superior to Maazel). The third complete Porgy and Bess, the Houston Opera performance on RCA, is okay but relatively superficial and lacking in nuance, with too many concessions to contemporary sensibilities--Gershwin dished up for people who like Andrew Lloyd Webber.



The Maazel, though, is highly recommended. Ideally one should have both this and the Rattle."

A rare recording reissued

C. Freeborn | Amazonia MO USA | 12/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording has not been available for a number of years. I paid about fifty dollars for an ebay copy of the origial CD. There are only a few complete recordings of "Porgy and Bess". This is a chance to buy a copy of one of the masterpieces of U.S. music. /cf"