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George Gershwin’s Concerto in F was a response to demands for a ‘proper concerto’ after the success of Rhapsody in Blue, avoiding programmatic content while providing a feast of tunes both uplifting and nostalgic. Originally intended as music for a film, his up-beat Rhapsody No. 2 describes the bustling Manhattan cityscape while under construction. Sourced from his hit musical Girl Crazy, I Got Rhythm Variations was Gershwin’s last full score.

Young soloist Orion Weiss is already established in the US and is rapidly making a name on the world concert stage. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra lead by JoAnn Falletta already has a large Naxos following through acclaimed releases such as Corigliano’s The Red Violin (8559671).

Pianist Orion Weiss holds a leading position among American musicians of his generation. His impressive list of awards includes the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year Award, the Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at The Juilliard School and the Mieczysław Munz Scholarship.

JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony in the United States and Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland. Her Naxos recordings include the double GRAMMY® Award winning disc of works by John Corigliano and GRAMMY® nominated discs of works of Tyberg, Dohnányi, Fuchs, Schubert, and Respighi.

24-bit, 96 kHz Stereo and Surround Recordings

George Gershwin’s Concerto in F was a response to demands for a ‘proper concerto’ after the success of Rhapsody in Blue, avoiding programmatic content while providing a feast of tunes both uplifting and nostalgic. Originally intended as music for a film, his up-beat Rhapsody No. 2 describes the bustling Manhattan cityscape while under construction. Sourced from his hit musical Girl Crazy, I Got Rhythm Variations was Gershwin’s last full score. Pianist Orion Weiss is one of the most soughtafter soloists and collaborators of his generation of young American musicians.

Young soloist Orion Weiss is already established in the US and is rapidly making a name on the world concert stage. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra lead by JoAnn Falletta already has a large Naxos following through acclaimed releases such as Corigliano’s The Red Violin (8559671).

One of the finest Italian composers of the 20th century, Giorgio Federico Ghedini was almost 35 when his Litanie alla Vergine received what he described as a ‘warm welcome from the public, unreserved praise from all the critics and musicians’.

Ghedini’s very individual orchestration of J. S. Bach’s Musical Offering, two movements of which were omitted from this live 1952 performance in Naples, is notable for its use of a variety of small, usually homogeneous groups from within the orchestra including two pianos but no horns.

L’Olmenata (The Elm Grove) of 1951 is a fascinating concerto for orchestra and two concertante cellos which represents two complementary herbs, the red Glaspi and the white Egusa. At the heart of the concerto lies a haunting, yearning, almost Mahlerian slow movement. These, the only surviving recordings of Ghedini conducting his own music, are re-issued here for the first time in more than 50 years.

Classics Today praised Ghedini’s music on a previous disc as being “fluent, somewhat understated, but nevertheless characterful musical styles steeped in the great traditions of the past (particularly with regard to matters of form), but employing an interestingly personal harmonic language…This is curiously compelling music, frequently quite dissonant but never excessively so, and always so shapely and melodically distinguished that the ear never feels fatigued.”

Motivated by a “quest for the beautiful, with the humble hope that I may be privileged to achieve this goal, if only for one precious moment and share this moment with my listeners”, Vittorio Giannini was an impeccable craftsman and masterful orchestrator with a gift for arching, expressive melodies that reflect his abiding love of European musical culture.

His Piano Concerto is redolent of Rachmaninov, while the passionate Symphony No 4, with its heartfelt central movement, places Giannini among America’s finest Neo-Romantic composers.

Both works appear not to have been performed again since their premières in 1937 and 1959 and are here presented in their world premiere recording.

“There’s much to glean from Gabriela Imreh’s solid technique and musicianship…[and] innate lyric gifts and sensitivity.” Classics Today on a previous recording