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TRANSCRIPT
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VICTROLA® STEREO RECORDS may be played on any modern phonograph with a lightweight tone arm. You will hear excellent sound reproduction on a mono player and full stereo sound on a stereo player.
Bernstein—Dances from WEST SIDE STORY
Stereo VICS-1491
Gershwin—PORGY AND BESS (A Symphonic Picture) Robert Russell Bennett conducting the RCA Symphony Orchestra
There is a vivid demonstration of American dra- ‘matic music in these orchestral recordings from the scores of Porgy and Bess and West Side Story. The former, first produced in 1936, is designated asa folk opera. The latter, which opened in September 1957, is characterized in the house program simply as “A New Musical.” However, the appeal of Porgy and Bess is much wider than that of most operas, folk or otherwise, and that of West Side Story extends far beyond the boundaries ordinarily indicated by the noun “musical” (or even by the adjective of the same name). Also, apart from the values of the music on stage, the Gershwin and Bernstein scores have had continuing careers of their own. In this album we hear excerpts from both works, with the orchestral treatments substantially as they appear in the ori- ginal scorings. The sound is remarkable—as written, as played, as reproduced. In many senses, this is the
sound of success!
The Jets and the Sharks, rival gangs on the West Side of New York City, and their friends are impor-
tant elements of West Side Story, which is based ona conception of Jerome Robbins, with book by Arthur
Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim. The story is one of neighbor-
hood clashes and romance, and the activities of the
youthful Jets and Sharks are both expressed and
preluded, in many instances, by dance patterns. It
is the dance element in the score that Mr. Bennett has emphasized in his choice of the present selec- tions, which might be characterized as a concert dance suite.
The Prologue serves as an introduction to the gang groups. The music has something expressively vital and yet furtive about it. The Dance Hall se- quence comprises several designs, among them a
blues, a bit of pasodoble, a mambo and a cha-cha
(the Maria Cha-Cha, named for the heroine).
Cool bears the instruction “solid and boppy” and
maintains that mood jauntily through the vanish- ing conclusion. Listeners who insist that all musical
indications must be written in traditional termi- nology are advised that the closing measures are marked dim. sempre. The Rumble is the gang fight
that ends the first act of West Side Story, developing into a vicious brawl that subsides only with the ap- proach of the police, the curtain falling as a chime
begins to strike the hour.
Ballet is built about a song, Somewhere, sung by
the lovers, Maria and Tony. The vocal elements are
played in this recording by a viola and a cello, and
this translation of voices to instruments is the only
editing done to the West Side Story orchestrations,
which were written by Mr. Bernstein with Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal. (Incidentally, this is the
only viola music in any performance of West Side Story items, the original instrumentation not in-
cluding this member of the string family.) Ballet
ranges through a variety of moods, from the charm-
ingly lyrical to a dazzlingly nightmarish section.
Robert Russell Bennett’s concert arrangement of
music from Porgy and Bess was commissioned by
Fritz Reiner, who conducted the premiere of this
symphonic picture with the Pittsburgh Symphony
on February 5, 1943, and introduced it to New York
at Philharmonic Symphony concerts a few weeks later. It is now a staple of the orchestral repertoire.
Mr. Bennett recalls a post-luncheon conference in
Pittsburgh at which Dr. Reiner specified excerpts to
be included in the symphonic setting, the order of
the extracts and the general orchestral treatment.
The result pleased all involved, the audience being
happily involved, also. The program notes for the
first New York hearing quoted Mr. Bennett as saying
that he had “been careful to do what I knew—after many years of association with Gershwin—Gershwin would like as a symphonic version of his opera.”
The contribution of Mr. Bennett to this com-
position consists chiefly of short thematic passages which blend individual numbers, many of them established favorites, into a single continuity, along
with the adaptation of vocal lines for instruments
and the arranging of a concert finale. The orchestra-
tion, he points out, remains almost entirely Gersh-
win’s own, as he wrote it for the opera. Perhaps it
may be added that the completed symphonic story
is a tribute to the memory of a friend and colleague.
The opera Porgy and Bess is based on the play
Porgy by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, the opera
text being by Du Bose Heyward and Ira Gershwin.
The symphonic story makes no attempt to outline a
plot, but it has the effect of a narrative, even though
no story is actually being told. The sequence of the
music is: 1. Scene in Catfish Row (notice the ped- dlers’ calls!); 2. Act III Opening; 3. Act I Opening;
4. Summertime; 5. I Got Plenty of Nothin’; 6. Storm
music; 7. Bess, You Is My Woman Now; 8. The
Picnic Party; 9. There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon
for New York; 10. It Ain’t Necessarily So; 11. Finale:
I’m on My Way.
When you play these recordings you have opera, ballet, theater and all manner of drama—all played in music which is hugely satisfying on its own terms.
—Rosert A. SIMON
Other Victrola® recordings you will enjoy:
Bizet: “Carmen” for Orchestra MortontGoutd, Conductor = 530.n VICS-1445
Grofé: Grand Canyon Suite - Gershwin: An American in Paris Arthur Fiedler/ Boston POPs ...........+00..s000000+. VICS-1423
Offenbach: ‘‘Orpheus in Hades” and Other Favorites Arthur Fiedler / Boston Pops. .22...c0ssics ese VICS-1466
Rimsky-Korsakoff: Scheherazade MorionsGould,Gonductor nar ee VICS-1444
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra Fritz Reiner/ Chicago Symphony ......-..2.....s0e000000 VICS-1265
Ravel: Bolero; La Valse - Ibert: Escales (Ports of Call) - Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun Charles Munch/Boston Symphony ..........00000000000--. VICS-1323
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Library of Congress Card Numbers 70-751138 and 73-751139 apply to this recording. Cover art based on a photo by Fred Fehl
Timings: Side 1—23:32 * Side 2—24:34 (ASCAP)
TMK(S) ® by RCA Corporation
© 1959, RCA Records, New York, N.Y. © Printed in U.S.A.
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