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Posted by Göran Forsling on July 2, 2008, 4:12 pm, in reply to "http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/July08/Gershwin_Porgy_GHCD2313.htm"
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You are right of course, Martin. John DeMain conducted the forces of the Houston Grand Opera in a recording made shortly after Maazel's in the mid-70s. I haven't heard that version but reviews I read at the time found it very theatrical - as you say - but, as one critic wrote, more Broadway musical style than grand opera. It should have been mentioned even so and so should perhaps the fact that in 1952, the same year as this Berlin perfromance was taped, CBS released a virtually complete studio recording.
As a footnote of historical interest I could mention that Alexander Smallens was the one who onducted the Broadway premiere and Eva Jessey the chorus and Helen Dowdy, as in Berlin, sang Strawberry Woman.
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