This recording, like its companion ''Kiri Sings Gershwin'' (reviewed on page 608), was made possible by the recent discovery of a treasure house of original scores, with orchestrations, found in the Warner Brothers music warehouse in Secaucus, New Jersey, and by the careful preservation of archive scores in RKO studios from movies dating back to the 1930s. The performances are bouyant and the pick-up orchestra used—they were made in the RCA studios in New York City—show the natural rhythmic feeling for this music that makes British performances sound like a pale shadow. Indeed, the brass playing in the ''Stiff upper lip'' sequence recalls the great days of the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. This was an extended dance routine from A Damsel in Distress, a 1937 RKO movie featuring Fred Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen, set in a funhouse at a country fair. The musical invention is as kaleidoscopic as the visual equivalent and, alongside the Oh Kay! Overture, which has a half dozen good tunes, offers the most entertaining listening here.
The other overtures and selections have the famous tunes more thinly spread, though Girl Crazy includes the marvellous ''I got rhythm'' which lends itself to instrumental performance. The recording is close-miked and vivid in the manner of 'pop' recording: the brass have a slightly edgy presence and the strings tend to be a bit shrill. There is 42 minutes of music offered which will make the CD, when it arrives, poor value except for those enthusiasts for whom the original arrangements are of very special interest. In the late 1970s Michael Tilson Thomas and the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra recorded a marvellous collection of Gershwin's Broadway overtures for CBS (76632, 12/77). This has comparable pep and the analogue recording is first rate. However, there is much new material on the new record and the authenticity of the performances, using a pit-size band, is undeniable.'