Gershwin: Music for Two Pianos
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Magazine Review Date: 11/1988
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 56
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 749752-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Second Rhapsody |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Variations on 'I Got Rhythm' |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| (2) Waltzes |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| George White's Scandals of 1922, Movement: Blue Monday (withdrawn after 1st perf) |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Girl Crazy, Movement: Embraceable you |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Goldwyn Follies, Movement: Love is here to stay |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Magazine Review Date: 11/1988
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: EL749752-1
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Second Rhapsody |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Variations on 'I Got Rhythm' |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| (2) Waltzes |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| George White's Scandals of 1922, Movement: Blue Monday (withdrawn after 1st perf) |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Girl Crazy, Movement: Embraceable you |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Goldwyn Follies, Movement: Love is here to stay |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Magazine Review Date: 11/1988
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: EL749752-4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Second Rhapsody |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Variations on 'I Got Rhythm' |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| (2) Waltzes |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| George White's Scandals of 1922, Movement: Blue Monday (withdrawn after 1st perf) |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Girl Crazy, Movement: Embraceable you |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
| Goldwyn Follies, Movement: Love is here to stay |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Katia Labèque, Piano Marielle Labèque, Piano |
Author:
The Labeques' choice of Yamaha pianos (hyper-bright, metallic) coupled with their own inimitably unbuttoned manner makes for a fairly unholy alliance in the busier, brasher pages of the Second Rhapsody. Anything marked mezzo-forte and above tends to sound much the same: i.e. very loud. A little more dynamic gradation and variation would certainly not have gone amiss for this listener. That said, however, I think the bell-like percussive colour (vividly reproduced) is spot-on, given that Gershwin originally conceived the piece as a composer's emotional response to New York. ''Rhapsody in Rivets'' was the original title, the rhythmic opening motif suggesting the hammering of riveters working on Manhatten skyscrapers. No problems there for the Labeques. The rhythmic razzle-dazzle of the performance goes without saying; the passage-work is sdntilating, the myriad syncopations, highly-spiced, the big bluesy lyric subject freely, spontaneously phrased (Gershwin's father suggested calling the piece ''Rhapsody in Blue Number Two''; now that's what I call good business sense). If I'm honest, I do miss the sheer chromium-plated opulence of the orchestral version. But that's not to say that Gershwin's two-piano arrangement is in any respect a poor second-best. It has an amplitude and inventiveness all of its own, the composer's keyboard wizardry abundantly displayed throughout.
More wizardry at work again, of course, in the I got rhythm Variations, and the best compliment that I can pay the Labeques here is that they convey a very real sense of impromptu improvisation, the cool, easy sophistication of Gershwin at the piano enjoying a little creative recreation. The same might be said of the Francois Jeanneau arrangements. I especially like the two standards, Embraceable you and Love is here to stay, Gershwin's last song; while the three fragments from his failed ''one-act vaudeville opera'', Blue Monday—a courageous experiment that was to point the way to Porgy and Bess—draw moodily upon the number ''Has anyone seen Joe?'': a wistful slow tango that Gershwin was later to salvage in an arrangement for strings entitled Lullaby (Chailly included it as a filler for his American in Paris / Rhapsody in Blue coupling on Decca). The Two Waltzes, casualties of Gershwin's ambitious but unsuccesful show Pardon My English, are pure 1930s—in a word, glamorous.R1 '8811053'
More wizardry at work again, of course, in the I got rhythm Variations, and the best compliment that I can pay the Labeques here is that they convey a very real sense of impromptu improvisation, the cool, easy sophistication of Gershwin at the piano enjoying a little creative recreation. The same might be said of the Francois Jeanneau arrangements. I especially like the two standards, Embraceable you and Love is here to stay, Gershwin's last song; while the three fragments from his failed ''one-act vaudeville opera'', Blue Monday—a courageous experiment that was to point the way to Porgy and Bess—draw moodily upon the number ''Has anyone seen Joe?'': a wistful slow tango that Gershwin was later to salvage in an arrangement for strings entitled Lullaby (Chailly included it as a filler for his American in Paris / Rhapsody in Blue coupling on Decca). The Two Waltzes, casualties of Gershwin's ambitious but unsuccesful show Pardon My English, are pure 1930s—in a word, glamorous.R1 '8811053'
Gershwin: Music for Two Pianos
Gershwin: Music for Two Pianos
Gershwin: Music for Two Pianos
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