Porgy and Bess

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.) The recording came about as a result of Ira Gershwin's desire to bring about a recording not tied to any one production of the work, as the previous two had been. It was recorded between April 5 and April 13, 1951. The album was originally released on 3 twelve-inch 33 1/3 rpm LPs. Columbia Masterworks assigned the album the serial number OSL 162. The recording was later remastered by Naxos Records and re-released on CD. 1951 full article at wikipedia