Interest in authenticity has produced no more startling a discovery than the original jazz-band versions of the Rhapsody in Blue. Since the appearance of Michael Tilson Thomas's LP on CBS three years ago this has become the standard way of doing the piece, on record if not in the concert hall.
But it seems that this is not the end of the matter so far as authenticity is concerned. The Rattle/Donohoe performance on EMI included four extra bars before the first animato, now this new Telarc issue reinstates a further 44 bars apparently excised by Gershwin sometime after the premiere, plus a couple of minor reworkings of the solo part, of unspecified provenance. The unfamiliar passages, there are half a dozen of them, sound progressively more bizarre as the Rhapsody unfolds, with some attractive little riffs in the early stages but a particularly embarrassing bit of waffle just before the repeated-note toccata section.
Text apart, the performance is most valuable for the nonchalant but thoroughly idiomatic accompaniment. Unlike Tilson Thomas, Rattle and Litton (RPO/ASV), Erich Kunzel chooses not to take heed of the breakneck tempos of the composer's piano roll, but more importantly the greater experience of his players in the light-music field shows through in a natural swing which makes all the listed rivals sound at times too square, at times too selfconsciously free. On the other hand, William Tritt, whose fluency is never in question, has taken nonchalance to the point of seeming almost apologetic for his presence as soloist. The piano is not disadvantageously placed, but the tone lacks resonance, rather as if he were playing with the soft pedal all the time or nursing a sore right-hand little finger.
Much the same applies to the Concerto in F—a warm and glowing slow movement with a lovely quizzical melancholy to it but outer movements wanting in urgency and soioistic personality. Still, orchestral back-up and recording quality of comparable excellence are not easy to find. If the fillups appeal—the splendidly sophisticated I got rhythm Variations and the foot-tapping Rialto Ripples rag—and if you want the nearest thing on record to an 'original' Rhapsody in Blue, this is still a recommendable issue. The rival Rhapsodies all have their merits—roughly speaking Tilson Thomas is the brashest, Litton the wittiest, Donohoe the most naturally commanding soloist. But collectors may want all of them for their couplings—Rattle's Milhaud, Stravinsky, Bernstein, and Paul Whiteman arrangements; Litton's Who cares? (the ballet score arranged from the Gershwin Song-book); Tilson Thomas's Gershwin miscellanea, including the Second Rhapsody. And for the Concerto and Variations, plus An American in Paris and the Rhapsody in Blue with symphony orchestra accompaniment, don't forget the marvellously characterful Earl Wild/Boston Pops CD issue on RCA at mid price.'