Search - Gregg Baker, Lawrence Craig, George Gershwin :: Gershwin: Selections from Porgy and Bess; Blue Monday

Magnificent

Earl Hazell | New York | 02/20/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you have ever been, or think you might ever be, a fan of the music of George Gershwin, opera, musical theatre, jazz, powerful, triumphant singing by trained African-American voices, orchestral music, historical/cultural documents layered in innovative artistry, hearing the next generation of Opera Grand Dammes and Divos before the sun also rises on their already international careers...all of this and more is to be found on this CD. One might say I'm a little biased, as my ex-fiancee/best friend (Angela Brown, Soprano) and a number of friends of mine in the business are on this CD. But you don't have to know them to love them when they sound like this.Angela, who has one of the most powerful voices in the industry (she recently covered AIDA at the Met for an all of a sudden slightly nervous and miraculously recovered from illness [upon hearing Angela warm up on stage] Debra Voigt), sings PORGY's "My Man's Gone Now" about as well as I've ever heard her--which is by definition (trust me) better than most of the sopranos of the last century, BAR NONE...the master Greg Baker, who has done Amonasaro and John The Baptist at the Met to incredibly deserved acclaim, performs excerpts from his signatue role Crown and Porgy at the top of his game...the rich tones of Marquita Lister, whose debut as Bess in the Goetz Friedrich production of PORGY in the Theatre Des Westens of Berlin in 1993 was a shot to all established divas heard 'round the world (now singing with her on that stage at that time was FUN, let me tell you), sounds like a ringy, milk chocolate/black velvet version of the milky, white velvet Rene Fleming...Diva Harolyn Blackwell, not to be outdone, rings and soars in everything she does...This CD would be a treat even without the introduction of BLUE MONDAY, the DNA of PORGY AND BESS work that gives us a window into the creative mind of George Gershwin, and the embryonic existence of PORGY AND BESS itself. BLUE MONDAY gives us much of the thematic material and revolutionary artistic ideas that led to Gershwin triumphantly blurring the lines separating grand Musical Theatre in the tradition of Jerome Kern (think SHOWBOAT) from the high art of Wagnerian/Verdian/Russian Opera with PORGY; influencing everyone from Richard Rogers to Leonard Bernstein to Stephen Sondheim in American composition thereafter. BLUE MONDAY, in its simple, deceptive beauty (with parts sung immaculately by Angela and Marquita) gives you the clue to just how powerfully Gershwin planned to shake up the world with the debut of PORGY and BESS in 1935--and did. And can you even imagine how it feels to hear the voice of Cab Calloway, linking every conceivable strand of High African-American music, American musical theatre, American opera and Jazz of the 20th century together with every word he says? Could there have been a better Sportin' Life? (Gershwin actually wrote the part of Sportin' Life in PORGY both for and based on the personality and artistry of Calloway--the friend of Ellington and biggest influence on the music and personality of Dizzy Gillespie--while he played in Harlem's Cotton Club in the 1930's.)But this CD is not a Museum piece made for music academics or an excuse for me and others in the business to party with singer friends (I don't need this good an excuse for that!). This is absolutely beautiful music that will sweeten your home and soul on the first hearing.This could easily be like Miles Davis' KIND OF BLUE for all enthusiasts of good music who (smartly) don't lay claim to liking, being an "expert" of or sticking to one particular style. Just as anyone who kind of likes any of the jazz they've heard loves KIND OF BLUE, if you have ever heard strong American music sung with powerful American voices over a tight orchestra, but had too much fun listening to it to call it "opera", you will love this CD."