This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Selections from George Gershwin's Folk Opera Porgy and Bess" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Decca Presents Selections from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by various | ||||
| Released | 1952 | |||
| Recorded | 1940 & 1942 | |||
| Genre | Opera | |||
| Label | Decca | |||
| Porgy and Bess chronology | ||||
| ||||
Decca Presents Selections from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess consists of two volumes of records, the first from 1940, and the next from 1942.
The 1940 album was the first to record selections fromGeorge Gershwin's operaPorgy and Bess as sung by members of theoriginal Broadway cast from 1935.[1] The only singers involved wereTodd Duncan as Porgy andAnne Brown as Bess. Duncan sang "It Ain't Necessarily So", which is sung in the opera by Sportin' Life. Anne Brown sang "Summertime" (first sung in the opera by Clara) and "My Man's Gone Now" (sung in the opera by Serena).Decca Records originally released this first volume on 4 twelve-inch 78 rpmshellac records assigned the numbers 29067, 29068, 29069 and 29070.
AfterPorgy and Bess wasrevived on Broadway in 1942, Decca brought the cast from the revival together to record more songs not already recorded two years earlier, issuing a new "Volume Two". This recording originally came on 3 ten-inch shellac records, which Decca Records assigned the numbers 23250, 23251 and 23252.
In February 1950, Decca re-released the albums on an LP set entitledSelections from Porgy and Bess (DL 7006), deceptively billing it as "the original cast album" though only selected members of two separate casts participated.
| Track | Song Title |
|---|---|
| 1. | "Overture" and "Summertime" |
| 2. | "My Man's Gone Now" |
| 3. | "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'" |
| 4. | "Buzzard Song" |
| 5. | "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" |
| 6. | "It Ain't Necessarily So" |
| 7. | "The Requiem" |
| 8. | "Porgy's Lament" and "Finale" |
| Track | Song Title |
|---|---|
| 1. | "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing" |
| 2. | "It Take a Long Pull to Get There" |
| 3. | "What You Want Wid Bess?" |
| 4. | "Street Cries" |
| 5. | "I Loves You, Porgy" |
| 6. | "There's a Boat dat's Leavin' Soon for New York" |
| Track | Song Title |
|---|---|
| 1. | "Overture and Summertime" |
| 2. | "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing" |
| 3. | "My Man's Gone Now" |
| 4. | "It Takes a Long Pull to Get There" |
| 5. | "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'" |
| 6. | "Buzzard Song" |
| 7. | "Bess, You Is My Woman" |
| 8. | "It Ain't Necessarily So" |
| 9. | "What You Want wid Bess?" |
| 10. | "Strawberry Woman's Call" |
| 11. | "Crab Man's Call" |
| 12. | "I Loves You, Porgy" |
| 13. | "The Requiem" |
| 14. | "There's a Boat dat's Leavin' Soon for New York" |
| 15. | "Porgy's Lament and Finale" |