Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

This is of course a disc of outstanding music, and it is shown in a new light by pianist Corinna Simon. She presents to us as yet entirely unknown treats from Gershwin’s magnificent piano world with selected songs from his papers – performed on the legendary “Manfred Bürki” Steinway of 1901, perhaps even qualifying as a New York Steinway.

Simon Rattle as a man of experiment and discovery: back in the 1980s the now head of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra explored the territory connecting jazz with classical music – accompanied by well-known names like George Gershwin or Leonard Bernstein, and also less well-known ones such as Darius Milhaud. Today, Rattle's Jazz Album is among the highlights of his discography.

Nineteen year old British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances and penetrating interpretations.

Following his highly successful debut album on Decca Classics (the youngest British musician to sign to Decca, and the first British pianist to join the label in almost 60 years) Benjamin will record his second disc featuring some of the foremost romantic piano concertos accompanied by the lush textures of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Freddy Kempf and Andrew Litton with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra here join forces to present a disc of works by George Gershwin.

Rhapsody in Blue was originally arranged by Ferde Grofé for jazz band before being orchestrated for symphony orchestra. Here Kempf and the Bergen Philharmonic play this original version.

Concerto in F was a commission for Gershwin to write a ‘proper’ piano concerto, but still takes the rhythms, melodic structures and bluesy harmonies of popular music.

The disc is completed by Gershwin’s two remaining works for piano and orchestra, the Second Rhapsody and Variations on ‘I Got Rhythm’.

Idiomatic performances of three of Gershwin’s most popular orchestral works presented at super budget price.

CD + DVD Bonus

In 1924, Gershwin composed his first major classical work, Rhapsody in Blue. The original score was for two pianos, but orchestrated by Ferde Grofé, receiving its premiere on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band with Gershwin playing the piano. In an article in Atlantic Monthly in 1955, Leonard Bernstein, who loved the piece, wrote: “The themes are terrific – inspired, God-given. I don't think there has been such an inspired melodist on this earth since Tchaikovsky...”

West Side Story is the all-American musical: plot and story are based on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, but set in New York City in the mid-1950s. The original 1957 Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins marked Stephen Sondheim's Broadway debut.

Irwin Kostal (1911 - 1994) was an arranger of films and an orchestrator of Broadway musicals, responsible for the original orchestration of West Side Story. His work won both an Oscar and a Grammy Award. He also conducted the digital re-recording of the music to Walt Disney's 1940 animated feature Fantasia. At the request of Leonard Bernstein, he arranged West Side Story for Katia and Marielle Labèque. In 2004 he was named a ‘Disney legend’ in recognition of his contributions to films released by the studio.

Gershwin Bernstein marks the return of Katia and Marielle, in repertoire they made their own back in the 1980s. Their innovative interpretation of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue marked the beginning of the international career of this atypical duo and was one of the first gold records in classical music.

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.

In this swinging set of ‘symphonic jazz’, Steve Richman and the Harmonie Ensemble/New York recreate the original orchestrations made by Ferde Grofé for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. The programme features Gershwin’s immortal Rhapsody in Blue (with soloist Lincoln Mayorga and legendary reedman Al Gallodoro), the I Got Rhythm Variations, and a selection of George’s Broadway tunes, including Summertime in a beautiful reading by Al and Lincoln. Not to be missed is the acoustic (!) version of The Yankee Doodle Blues which the HE/NY recorded on a wax cylinder using a 1909 Edison Fireside phonograph.

“Richman’s spot-on sense of pacing, balance and emphasis guarantee that every Grofé-conjured utterance receives discerning and shapely animation. The ensemble and solo playing likely would bowl over both the composer and Whiteman.” Gramophone