Gershwin Fantasy

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: George Gershwin

Label: Classical

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 55

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: SK60659

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Porgy and Bess, Movement: My man's gone now George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: I got plenty o' nuttin' George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Bess, you is my woman now George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: It ain't necessarily so George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: There's a boat dat's leavin' George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Oh Bess, oh where's my Bess George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Oh Lawd, I'm on my way George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Introduction...Jasbo Brown Blues George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Summertime George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
(3) Preludes George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Piano
Joshua Bell, Violin
Girl Crazy, Movement: But not for me George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Girl Crazy, Movement: Embraceable you George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Girl Crazy, Movement: I got rhythm George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
(A) Damsel in Distress, Movement: Nice work if you can get it George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Show Girl, Movement: Liza George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Tip-Toes, Movement: Sweet and low-down George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Piano
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Goldwyn Follies, Movement: Love is here to stay George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra

Composer or Director: George Gershwin

Label: Classical

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: ST60659

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Porgy and Bess, Movement: My man's gone now George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: I got plenty o' nuttin' George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Bess, you is my woman now George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: It ain't necessarily so George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: There's a boat dat's leavin' George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Oh Bess, oh where's my Bess George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Oh Lawd, I'm on my way George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Introduction...Jasbo Brown Blues George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Porgy and Bess, Movement: Summertime George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
(3) Preludes George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Piano
Joshua Bell, Violin
Girl Crazy, Movement: But not for me George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Girl Crazy, Movement: Embraceable you George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Girl Crazy, Movement: I got rhythm George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
(A) Damsel in Distress, Movement: Nice work if you can get it George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Show Girl, Movement: Liza George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Tip-Toes, Movement: Sweet and low-down George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Piano
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Goldwyn Follies, Movement: Love is here to stay George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer
John Towner Williams, Conductor
Joshua Bell, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
In the 1920s George Gershwin used to encounter Jascha Heifetz at smart New York parties, and the two sometimes improvised violin-piano duets. Heifetz urged Gershwin to compose a major concert work for him, but Gershwin never got around to it. After the composer’s death, Heifetz himself arranged five songs from Porgy and Bess as well as Gershwin’s three Preludes for piano. These transcriptions and arrangements are the springboard for this CD.
John Williams has arranged eight songs from Porgy into a 20-minute Fantasy, somewhat in the manner of Sarasate’s assaults on Carmen and other nineteenth-century operas. It comes as something of a surprise to hear “Bess, you is my woman now” in such a high key, but Joshua Bell takes on the wailing “My man’s gone now” and of course “Summertime” to make a very convincing virtuoso effect.
Heifetz’s transcriptions of the Preludes sound so natural that one would believe that Gershwin had composed them that way, whereas Williams’s arrangements of some other show- and film-tunes seem to look forward more to the style of Grappelli. This is a light-hearted, sunny disc, which makes huge demands on Bell as soloist but none at all on the listener – it’s sheer pleasure.'

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