Wayne Marshall

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) is a greatly misunderstood composer. General opinion would have it that his music is rather dry, academic and lacking in humour but this is very far from the truth, as this set of his complete Kammermusik beautifully illustrates. The seven Kammermusik (Chamber Music) were written in the 1920s and are the first works of Hindemith's maturity, at a time when he had already established himself as one of the leading young composers in Germany. Hindemith's music here is very much of its time, being a thumb-to-nose reaction to the romantic excesses that had gone before. Kammermusik No.1, written in 1921, reflects the composers earlier experience as a performer in dance bands and musical comedy orchestras; Nos.2-7 are all concertos, each for a different soloist and instrumentation, that in essence have a more than passing resemblance to the Brandenburg Concertos of Bach.

This release of five new titles in the American Classics series is devoted to the music of George Gershwin.

Arguably the best-known of all 20th-century composers, George Gershwin's music encompasses with equal skill both the classical and popular genres. He was born Jacob Gershowitz in Brooklyn, New York City, in September 1898 to immigrant Jewish parents. He died at the early age of 38 from a tumour in the brain.

Gershwin started to show an interest in music from about the age of ten and, although receiving some piano tutelage, was largely self-taught in composition. It was only later in his career that he received some formal instruction in composition.

Gershwin's first employment was as a song plugger for a New York music publishing company. His first song was published in 1916 and a year later he had his first commercial successes with the rag Rialto Ripples. This was followed, in 1919, by his first big international hit, Swanee. Now established as a successful composer of popular songs, between 1919 and 1933, Gershwin produced, in collaboration with his elder brother Ira, some of the most successful Broadway musicals.

In 1924 he was commissioned by the band leader, Paul Whiteman, to produce what was to be his first 'serious' composition, the Rhapsody in Blue. This was followed a year later by the Piano Concerto in F and, in 1928, by An American in Paris. His opera Porgy and Bess was first performed on Broadway in 1935.

These five releases present a comprehensive view of Gershwin's music from the Three Preludes for solo piano to the Piano Concerto, taking in a good selection of the show songs and improvisations.

Wayne Marshall is famous throughout the world both for his improvisations and for his interpretations of the composition of Gershwin and Bernstein. Here he brings these two talents together, producing spellbinding improvisations on much-loved themes from the work of these master composers. Rhapsody in Blue by Gerswhin, and West Side Story, Candide and Wonderful Town are all given a new lease of life as symphonic improvisations for the organ. Also included is an improvisation on the song Funny People by Jule Styne.

Wayne Marshall himself writes: "The music of Gershwin and Bernstein has always been well represented in the jazz world. Both composers understood jazz but both were also classically trained. l have always wanted to represent them on the organ and to show that this most diverse of all instruments can create another dimension outside the more traditional routes of classical music. lmprovisation for me means freedom and spontaneity yet at the same time creating an unusual but convincing sound world. The American MGM musical genre is celebrated here. l love the film Funny Girl which features Barbra Streisand in the title role. ln it she sings the song People which was written by Jule Styne. The film arrangement is one of the best ever, so l hope you enjoy my improvisation based on one of the best songs of all time."

Marshall performs on the 83-stop Schuke organ of the Philharmonie Luxembourg, an instrument designed in consultation with Daniel Roth that brings together the best elements of the concert hall organ with the principles of traditional French and German organbuilding.