It always seems to be two steps forward, one step back for Porgy and Bess. For those present at the last pre-pandemic concerts in Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall in March 2020 this curiously old-fashioned live in-concert selection will doubtless cast a spell. It should also appeal to admirers of Angel Blue, probably the finest Bess of our time. While her role was largely unaffected by the cuts made by the Metropolitan Opera in their most recent production and own-label set (6/20), the bonus here is that, like Leontyne Price on a once-famous highlights LP (RCA, 1/64), she briefly incarnates all the main female characters. Purists may complain that the soprano occasionally embellishes a line but she easily outshines her male colleagues with less to do. Of the other vocal participants only the Morgan State University Choir operate at a comparable level of excellence. Lester Lynch’s Porgy and Kevin Short’s Crown are too often forced and gritty. Chauncey Packer’s Sportin’ Life, theoretically strongly sung, makes free with the notes to an extent untenable for home listening.

Despite indulging such pockets of unbridled theatricality, Marin Alsop directs with a kind of earnest deliberation. The orchestral contribution is articulate but recessed, more clipped than swinging – you’d never guess who was in charge. Was the conductor really happy with a highlights package that omits the opening piano blues, Porgy’s biggest aria, the street vendors’ trio and the storm scene? Given the participation of so accomplished a female lead, was it perhaps the intention to refocus the narrative on Bess’s interactions with her variously inadequate men? It doesn’t help that the sound stage is too grandly resonant to evoke the oppressive tenements of Catfish Row.

The evening limps to its close after her departure, the aspirational final number, ‘Oh, Lawd, I’m on my way’, the dampest of damp squibs. No threat here to the classic recordings of the complete opera from Lorin Maazel (Decca, 4/76), John DeMain (RCA, 9/77) and Simon Rattle (EMI/Warner, 6/89). Unless of course you happen to have been there on the night!