Gershwin Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Label: RPO
Magazine Review Date: 2/1988
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ZCRPO8009

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Henry Lewis, Conductor Janis Vakarelis, Piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
(An) American in Paris |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Henry Lewis, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Label: Arabesque
Magazine Review Date: 2/1988
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Catalogue Number: ABQC6587

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(An) American in Paris |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Mitch Miller, Conductor |
Rhapsody in Blue |
George Gershwin, Composer
David Golub, Piano George Gershwin, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Mitch Miller, Conductor |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
George Gershwin, Composer
David Golub, Piano George Gershwin, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Mitch Miller, Conductor |
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Label: RPO
Magazine Review Date: 2/1988
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: RPO8009

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Henry Lewis, Conductor Janis Vakarelis, Piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
(An) American in Paris |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Henry Lewis, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Label: RPO
Magazine Review Date: 2/1988
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 49
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDRPO8009

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Henry Lewis, Conductor Janis Vakarelis, Piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
(An) American in Paris |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Henry Lewis, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Label: Arabesque
Magazine Review Date: 2/1988
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 74
Catalogue Number: Z6587

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(An) American in Paris |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Mitch Miller, Conductor |
Rhapsody in Blue |
George Gershwin, Composer
David Golub, Piano George Gershwin, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Mitch Miller, Conductor |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
George Gershwin, Composer
David Golub, Piano George Gershwin, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Mitch Miller, Conductor |
Author: Ivan March
The example I have, an extremely well engineered CD from Arabesque which has an almost uncanny presence, was recorded at the EMI studios in Abbey Road and plays for 74 minutes. Mitch Miller, who directs this release, has been an outstanding and distinguished crossover musician on the American musical scene since he began his career as an oboe player touring America in 1934. He travelled with a 55-piece orchestra (conducted by Leo Reisman and Charles Previn—the uncle of Andre) and the composer played piano. But in spite of this formative experience, the performances here are hopelessly mannered and indulgent and though the sheer strength of the conductor's personality holds the music-making together, they cannot be recommended. The climax of the blues tune in An American in Paris is heavily broadened, punctuated by rhythmic drum thwacks. There is an excellent soloist in both the concertante works but again the lyrical sentience in the orchestra is impossibly eccentric and adds one-and-a-half minutes to the first movement of the Concerto compared with Previn's EMI version, while the Rhapsody in Blue is nearly two-and-a-half minutes longer than Bernstein's famous CBS account notable for its spaciousness.
As for the competition, DJF and I seem agreed that the re-mastered Previn/EMI release (see LP and CD reviews July and September 1986) is preferable to his later Philips version. Both contain some abbreviations of the text in the Rhapsody but this is not a vital point: in any case if it's the Rhapsody in Blue you're after the Bernstein version (CD—7/87) is unsurpassed and, I suspect unsurpassable. There is now a most enjoyable Philips Silverline CD and tape of the famous triptych, with Werner Haas a splendid soloist and the Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra surprisingly and involvingly glamorous in An American in Paris and second to none in the Concerto, while at bargain price Classics for Pleasure have just issued the Blumenthal/ECO/Bedford versions on CD, which were rightly highly regarded when they first appeared on LP. I like too the jazzy exuberance of Earl Wild and the Boston Pops under Fiedler on RCA. The permutations are almost endless, but certainly with only two works offered the RPO/ ASV issue, for all its merits seems short measure.'
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