Customer Reviews

Gershwin: Orchestral Works

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4 star:		(2)
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The recordings featured on this CD have been released at least five times and this CD is the one to get. This "Rhapsody in Blue" is simply the best recording of this piece you'll ever hear. From the opening clarinet to the closing cords everything about the playing is absolutely perfect. Arthur Fiedler maintains the perfect tempos and pacing throughout, conveying just the right balance of jazzy pizazz with ironic humor. Earl Wild plays the piano with jaw-dropping virtuosity, making a perfect partner to the Boston Pops. Once you hear this "Rhapsody" you won't want to hear any others.
The Concerto in F is the ultimate "jazzy" recording: fast, energetic, and featuring amazing piano and orchestral playing. It is a perfect complement to the "Rhapsody". I still enjoy the Grimaud/Zinman performance for its romantic and "classical" tone, but the Wild performance is the more excitig one. The "American in Paris" captures this tone poem's moods perfectly--better than most performances. The "I Got Rhythm" variations is played to perfection, surpassing any performance I've heard.
The sound quality is 24/96 remastering, the best non-SACD sound available and with almost no hiss. There's no need for the frustrating adjustment of volume so often necessary with many modern digital recordings that suffer from dynamic range issues--you can play this one at a relatively low volume and it'll still sound loud! The only more advanced sound quality for these recordings is found on the recently released Hybrid SACD, but that offers no improvement for regular CD players over this CD. The only addition on that newer CD is the Cuban Overture, but it really doesn't pay to spend twice as much for a nine minute piece! The final advantage that this CD offers is the cover, featuring a picture of the Twin Towers, destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (This CD was released a month after the attacks). Add the budget price and this CD becomes one of the few no brainers in building a classical collection.

Despite what "Musicman" says in his review, it is definitely worth it for all music lovers get the SACD version of this disc....

Not only do you get more music, but the sound of ALL of the music is considerably improved, even if you haven't gotten around to acquiring a SACD-capable CD player yet. For now, this SACD version plays wonderfully on all machines, and when you eventually get around to buying one which can reproduce the full potential of SACD recordings, you won't have to worry about buying yet another version of this recording, because you've already got it right here.

As a general rule, buy hybrid SACD recordings when they're available, and then you can be confident you've got the "best" for the foreseeable future. Don't get suckered into having to upgrade again later!

This is a fine set of performances and a terrific bargain, but its rendition of the Rhapsody (the main attraction) is handily surpassed by James Levine (and perhaps others; Previn is good too).

Levine uses Gershwin's original arrangement for winds and piano, not Grofe's orchestration, which means real fanatics will want both. Purists spurn an arrangement not by the composer; but Gershwin approved of Grofe's work, never bothered to supercede it, and orchestrated An American In Paris in a similar style. Still, if gushy strings turn you off, Levine's CD without them might strike your fancy; and the verve and fun that make the Fiedler/List CD wonderful are present in even greater measure with Levine.

I quibble with the curious hesitancy of List's playing in the Rhapsody's slow section, where the piano's accompaniment of the orchestra features asymmetrical rhythms. It seems weird that he doesn't sound quite on top of this passage, since he wows our socks off playing more difficult material.