George GERSHWIN (1898 - 1937)
Rhapsody in Blue (1924) [16:53]
An American in Paris (1928) [17:57]
Porgy and Bess (1935) - A Symphonic Picture (arr. Robert Russell Bennett
(1942)) [23:21]
Morton GOULD (1913 - 1996)
Latin American Symphonette (1940) [20:57]
Leonard Pennario (piano); Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra/Felix Slatkin
rec. details not given - re-issues from Capitol SP-8343 (Rhapsody and
Paris) and
SP-8474 (Porgy and Gould). ADD
EMI CLASSICS 6066912 [79:29]
Felix Slatkin, leader of the MGM Studio Orchestra and the Hollywood Quartet,
was a musician of many and varied interests. He was father of conductor Leonard
and cellist Fred, friend of Frank Sinatra and husband of cellist Eleanor Aller.
Interestingly, his recording of Delius’s Caprice and Elegy for
cello and small orchestra was the only version available for many years. Having
feet in many different camps, he was the obvious choice for this repertoire
for he has the ability, unlike many conductors, to be able to treat lighter
music with the respect it truly deserves.
These performances of Gershwin’s best known, and loved, works are superb.
Just have a listen to the performance of An American in Paris and you’ll
know what I mean. The opening is so nonchalant as to be almost a throw-away
statement. As he gets going you can hear his delight in the work, and he allows
some marvellously vulgar trombone playing to intrude on the visitor’s
walk round the City of Light. But there’s also the coolest flutes you
could imagine and the most sensual cor anglais solo. The great blues tune
is given a broad sweep and the whole performance just swings with a very well
calculated insouciance. The strings at 13:16 have just got to be heard for
their sheerly sexual sound. This moment, alone, is worth the modest asking
price! Rhapsody in Blue is as fine a performance and it’s good
to hear Leonard Pennario in full flight. Slatkin manages to make his orchestra
sound, at times, as if it were a jazz band, and he allows the saxophones to
be heard but never to overpower the texture, as can so easily happen. What
makes these performances so good is that whilst they are occasionally brash
and vulgar - nothing wrong with that for the music can take it, it is, after
all, very extrovert stuff - Slatkin injects real love and care. That is what
lifts these performances into a special category, occupied only by Gershwin’s
own performances and those by Oscar Levant and Julius Katchen.
Robert Russell Bennett’s scenario of music from Porgy and Bess
although created after Gershwin’s death, was made before Gershwin’s
own suite had been discovered. Bennett often made these kinds of pieces from
vocal works he had had a hand in bringing to life. Interestingly he made a
version of West Side Story, which is quite different to Bernstein’s
own Symphonic Dances. All the tunes are here and what I like about
this performance is that it has a concert room feel. Never for one minute
did I miss the voices singing the tunes.
In some ways, Morton Gould’s Latin American Symphonette is the
most successful work here, because he isn’t trying to be anything other
than an entertainer. Occasionally I wonder about Gershwin, who tried so hard
to make it in the concert hall, that he seems to be trying too hard. No such
problems with Gould. He truly was equally at home on Broadway, in Hollywood
and in Carnegie Hall. He, certainly, was a more all-round composer. The title
Symphonette came about because Gould noticed that there were, in many
homes, kitchenettes and similar things so he thought that perhaps music should
be brought up to date. Thus he wrote a Concertette for piano and four
Symphonettes for orchestra - the famous Pavan is the middle
movement of the 2ndSymphonette. He later regretted
the titles but I cannot see why for here is one of the most joyous pieces
I know. The four movements are a rumba, tango, guaracha and a final, riotous,
conga. They make an enjoyable suite which is infectious in its charm and good
nature. The orchestration is brilliant and always interesting. Slatkin’s
performance is exemplary, if not quite matching Howard Hanson’s superb
mono Mercury recording (which appears not to be available at the moment) which
has a sweep so extrovert that one is carried away with the fiesta the orchestra
unleashes upon you. Slatkin is less Spring Break than Hanson, but more Fourth
of July. Nevertheless this is excellent and it completes a disk I could not
be without. The sound is very good with a rich and full-blooded bloom. You’d
never guess that they were all made over fifty years ago!
This is far too good and enjoyable to be missed.
Bob Briggs