Porgy and Bess (1951 album) (original) (raw)

This 1951 recording of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess was the first "complete" recording of the work from beginning to end, not a series of selections of popular songs from the work. (The recording did not include most of the music written by Gershwin which had been customarily cut from productions in the United States, however. As opposed to the complete three-hour opera, the album was two hours and nine minutes.) The album was recorded between April 5 and April 13, 1951. Several members of the original Broadway cast of Porgy and Bess appeared on the album.