MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Crotchet


George GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
An American in Paris (1928)* [18:21]
Rhapsody in Blue (original version, orch. Ferde Grofé) (1924)** [16:07]
Catfish Row (suite from Porgy and Bess) (1935)*
Lullaby (1919)* [7:28]
Cuban Overture (1932)+ [10:39]
*Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin; ** Peter Donohoe (piano); City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Simon Rattle; +London Symphony Orchestra/André Previn
rec. Powell Hall, St Louis, Missouri, 25. August 1987. DDD*; CTS Studios Wembley, London, 30 December 1986 and 2 January 1987. DDD**; Abbey Road Studios, London, 1-2 July 1980. ADD+.
EMI CLASSICS AMERICAN CLASSICS 2066282 [77:52]
 
Experience Classicsonline


This is one of a new EMI series of reissues, entitled American Classics. From the first batch, alongside this Gershwin CD, I received a Leonard Bernstein compilation (St Louis SO/Slatkin, CBSO/Paavo Järvi and London Sinfonietta/Rattle (2066262). The other composers in the series are Adams (2066272), Barber (2066252), Carter (2066292), Copland (2066342), Ives (2066312), Reich and Glass (2066242), Schuman and Bernstein (2066112) and Virgil Thomson (2066122). Four of these are advertised on the inside back cover of the booklet, with a reminder that they are available as downloads. My experience with EMI downloads, however, is that they are rarely cheaper than buying the equivalent mid-price CD – like Universal’s classicsandjazz website, they seem to have a one-price-fits-all policy – and their download technology appears to have a considerable number of pitfalls for Windows Vista users. The artistic line-ups for these recordings are all virtually self-recommending, if not always quite in the very top flight. 

The opening track of this CD, Leonard Slatkin’s account of An American in Paris, is one example where there are more idiomatic versions – Bernstein with the NYPO on mid-price Sony to name but one competitor who hits the spot slightly more accurately (82876787682, with equally fine versions of the Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto). JW described Bernstein’s version on a 10-CD ‘Original Jacket’ collection as self-definingly eloquent – see review. Slatkin’s slight lack of pace at the beginning – jaunty but not quite jaunty enough, and the car horns not quite raucous enough to begin with – denies his version that accolade, good as it becomes by the blowsy end of the work. EMI have a strong competitor in their own mid-price stable, from the LSO and André Previn, coupling the Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto (5668912). 

The Donohoe/Rattle version of the Rhapsody is a different matter. This version appeared on Musicweb’s list of selected recordings for the 1998 Gershwin centenary, alongside the Howard Shelley/Yan Pascal Tortelier account (CHAN9092 – also available from Chandos’s theclassicalshop as mp3 and lossless downloads); both versions remain high on any list of recommendations. While Bernstein again remains a strong competitor – JW in the review to which I have already referred used such epithets as ‘stupendous’; he has the advantage, of course, of being both soloist and conductor – I think Donohoe and Rattle run him pretty close: for a pair of Brits, they swing into the American mood perfectly. They don’t quite displace my copy of the Bernstein recording, however, in one of its multiple earlier lives on CBS and Sony. 

Prospective purchasers should, however, be aware that Donohoe/Rattle Rhapsody, coupled with the Piano Concerto and Songbook, a preferable coupling for many, remains available more cheaply on EMI’s own Encore budget-price label (5 08995 2 at around £6). The earlier Wayne Marshall; LPO/Rattle version on Encore seems to have been deleted. If you go for the Encore version, don’t forget that the label also offers one of the memorable Menuhin/Grappelli joint ventures – arrangements of Gershwin’s Fascinatin’ Rhythm, etc., on 5850812.

Whether this reissue stands or falls will depend for most readers on these first two pieces and how they are coupled. That’s not to say that Catfish Row isn’t very attractive music. I actually slightly prefer Richard Rodney Russell’s symphonic suite from Porgy and Bess to the composer’s own 5-section arrangement, written when the original production flopped, and revived in this orchestral form in the 1950s, but there isn’t a great deal in it, especially when Slatkin redeems my earlier reservations about American by turning in an excellent performance, apparently recorded on the same day as that earlier track – perhaps he and the St Louis SO just needed time to warm up: no complaints this time about the liveliness of the opening item, depicting Catfish Row itself (track 3). ‘Porgy Sings’ (track 4), opening with an arrangement of I got plenty of nuthin’, really swings in this version. When the music segues into Bess, you is my woman, the contrast of mood is beautifully handled. The full force of the Hurricane (tr.6) is well captured. 

In the Lullaby, too, originally written for string quartet in 1919, the St Louis Symphony Orchestra and Slatkin acquit themselves well. 

André Previn’s version of the Cuban Overture rounds off a CD for which there are more plus points than minuses. The LSO capture the Latin-American rhythms of this music as expertly as if they were performing for Edmundo Ros. The quality of the performances of these last three works means that I shall be keeping this CD alongside Bernstein’s American and Rhapsody, thus breaking my self-imposed rule of not having more than one version of a piece, though I’m fast running out of room to put it all. 

The recordings are all very good, even the ADD final track. The booklet contains short but informative notes – why waste half a page, though, with a platitudinous overview of American music, common to all the CDs in the series. The booklet which accompanies the Chandos Rhapsody in Blue is worth downloading – generously made available to all-comers to their website. 

All in all, if the couplings appeal – and it is difficult to get everything of Gershwin that you want without some duplications – and considering that I’ve probably over-stated my reservations about the one item, this reissue deserves to sell well, as it probably will. Its component parts may have been around the block several times, but they’re none the worse for that. The days when Gershwin was so little known in the UK that one commentator referred to the lyricist of his songs as “his lovely sister Ira” are, thankfully, long gone.

Brian Wilson

 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.