Customer Reviews

Gershwin: Piano Concerto / Rhapsody in Blue

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This disc pulled me in and pushed me away at the same time. It looked on the downside like it might be yet another of those crossover efforts doomed to failure, usually drummed up by a marketing department with big name players to deploy. I've not always been a stark raving fan of pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, not that he ever plays anything all that badly. I sometimes just don't felt engaged and convinced by his musical views in some of the literature; oh, well. He's got the jet-setting musical career; I don't.

For up sides, several glimmers might draw us in. Baltimore (under former Music Director David Zinman, now holding forth in Zurich at the Tonhalle) gave us one of the very best readings of the Gershwin Concerto in F. Their partnership with Helene Grimaud jazzed right up to the top of my keeper lists; as did the companion reading of Ravel's Concerto in g. If you look closely at the back disc cover, you will see that we are given the Ferde Grofe arrangements for jazz band ... although later listening seems to confirm that these famous originals have been adapted just a bit to suit the larger departments of the Baltimore SO.

Still, the catalog competition is pretty well established, both in the "Blue" rhapsody and in the piano concerto. Rhapsody keepers can start with the young Bernstein's long-lasting reading, then go on to consider other classics like Earl Wild with Fiedler (now remastered in super audio). Other appealing rhapsodies have been let loose by Wayne Marshall, Michael Tilson Thomas accompanying the 1925 piano rolls with the composer in the solo assignment, and Tzimon Barto with Andrew Davis letting their hair down more than you might expect (one of my sleeper favs). In the piano concerto I start my own keeper list with Grimaud in Baltimore - it has an uncanny meld of through-playing, glitter, sizzle, and sensuousness. I also like Earl Wild - with Fiedler in super audio, and in Des Moines with Joseph Giunta.

The up side is considerable, after all.

Somehow Thibaudet manages to serve up plenty of water front dive slouch, even as his keyboard technique stays consistently French-Piano-School. Marin Alsop has plenty of ability to bring out the saxophonic-swinging side of the Ferde Grofe orchestration, simultaneously with keeping a good eye or ear out for the symphonic dimensions of each piece as a whole. Most readings fall off the fence, landing way over on the free-wheeling pop side or the classical concert-hall side of these Gershwin works. Also, somewhat surprisingly, both Thibaudet and Alsop emphasize the driven-motoric pulses and figurations of Gershwin's muse. I found myself hearing clear links to Bartok and Prokofiev keyboard manners - and all to the benefit of Gershwin, in all three keyboard-orchestra outings.

The reading of the rhapsody manages propulsion, whimsy that nearly sounds improvised on the very spot, and bluesy lyricism that always keeps moving forward. Thibaudet and Alsop and the band seem able to position the rhapsody in its own Tin Pan Alley era, surprise connoting George Antheil being channeled by Francis Poulenc (among others?), while never, ever serving it up as a disconnected series of fun episodes that still don't quite add up, or rendering it as a giant symphonic-classical over-reach for jazz manners and sensibilities trying to strong arm pass the old money guards in the front lobby.

Second, we get the variations on that very durable tune, I got rhythm. Thibaudet and Alsop and the band bring it off handsomely, too. A step forward in coherence, rather closer kin to the famous Rachmaninoff Paganini Rhapsody than I had before glimpsed. The fun spirits open up readily, reminding us of Porgy and Bess and the Cuban Overture. The unanimity of perspective which all involved are bringing to bear through all of the imaginative variations helps infuse and connect them, again all to the better, all to the musical good. And again, these proceedings are enriched with passing motoric figuration associations with keyboard innovations by Bartok and Prokofiev, not to mention avant-garde composers like Henry Cowell and George Antheil.

The disc wraps up with Ferde Grofe's take on the piano concerto. Apparently, Gershwin felt offended by Paul Whitman bothering to have Ferde do it, since the composer believed he had learned to do his own orchestrations by that point in time. So it was suppressed by the Gershwin estate for a long time, until the estate powers relented, under the cover of letting Ferde's version sound out, for historical reasons. Ferde's orchestration bends way down at times, slouching far lower into casual manners and tonally spiced up colors and manners than the composer's own orchestration; and yet it has its own ways of illuminating the genius of the piano concerto after all. Part of the quality on offer is still the ways that Thibaudet and Alsop and the band keep it all up in the air, really going strong - despite what one suspects would otherwise turn into low-brow sleaziness in other, less musically adept hands?

Again, the concerto melds disparate sides of Gershwin into a rich, dazzling display that brings the music together, more often than not. We get all the blues-jazz spices we could possibly want, and all the direct-melody pop song appeal that only a great tune smith like Gershwin could serve up, with frisk and energy from both the Bartok-Prokofiev motorways, as well as from the quirky-glittering colors and shine we may tend to associate with Stravinsky-Ravel-Poulenc-Satie. The middle slow movement is as rich and bluesy-mournful as anybody could ever want, overflowing with those welcome connotations of Porgy and Bess. Very uptown, Manhattan Island, after hours. The stepping flow and the chromatic modulations have hardly ever made as much logical musical sense as they do in the capable-inspired handling of Thibaudet and Alsop and Baltimore. Then the final movement drives things home, as well as Bartok does in his second piano concerto.

All in all, one whale of a musical Gershwin package, is this disc. The only possible improvement would be that a super audio surround sound edition of it could be released. So far as the rhapsody and variations go, this one is a sure-fire keeper. For the concerto, it rises high, right up there with my near-definitive concerto reading by Grimaud and Zinman, also in Baltimore .... (but in the Gershwin orchestration).

Gotta grab it, fast. Watch out for the sharp edges on each of those five stars. Jazz hands, all around.

The Thursday before this CD was released I saw a concert performed by Mr Thibaudet and this was the autographed disk offereed afterward I first to this with a person who disliked it because it seemed so entirely untraditional. I found that the focus seemed not so much on swing but speed. Aside fron the dramatically different orchestrations, the piano was much faster with riffs and onamentations played in a very different manner from what we are used to. If you are expectiong the normal 30's Gershwin, this ain't it, but if you approach this CD as an entirely new experience it is a lot of fun to hear. My issue is with the engineering. Balance is not what it should be, especially in the concerto. The percussion is sometimes piercing with the saxaphones sounding far away. Still I listen to this often.

The Ferde Grofe version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue", arranged especially for the work's premiere with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to the standard orchestral version. Rightfully so, I'd say. Therefore, what's good for the goose must also be good for the gander, right? . . . wrong. By the time Gershwin composed his "Concerto in F", he had already become a proficient orchestrator. Without consulting Gershwin, Grofe went ahead with his own orchestration at the request of Whiteman. Apparently, Gershwin was not too pleased by this turn of events. But more to the point, if you're already familiar with the concerto, this Grofe version may strike you as being very strange sounding. It's not the ubiquitous saxophones and banjo that are bothersome. Instead, it's the fact that Grofe changes more than just some of Gershwin's actual writing, and throws in a number of unnecessary tam-tam strokes as well (and I'm a huge gong-head!). The very beginning of the concerto, for example, has some brass chords that are changed in a very big way. Two big tam-tam smashes towards the end of the slow movement sound more like Shostakovich or Mahler, than Gershwin. It isn't so much that it's awful, but that it's in no way an improvement over Gershwin's own version. I have no qualms over Thibaudet's playing, although he does sound a tad stiff here and there - especially during the "I Got Rhythm" Variations. But equally troubling, is that certain wind instruments will suddenly sound larger than life.

Baltimore's Meyerhoff Hall is a notoriously dry place to record, and it sounds as though the Decca engineers struggled a bit here. Make no mistake, there's the usual richness and deep bass to the Decca sound. But it's also apparent that the Decca engineers had to crack open a few spot-mikes more than they're usually accustomed to doing. There's a slight air of artificiality to the proceedings. It comes off a bit slick and plastic to me. But the main problem is just Grofe's willy-nilly version of the concerto. Pick this up only as a supplement or novelty, as this simply isn't a first pick by any stretch of the imagination.

George Gershwin's music is the msusic of my life. I've listened to it since infancy and I can only think of two of his pieces I don't like. One of them has always been Concerto in F. I felt, except for brief patches, that it was ponderous and dull. The orchestra always sounded mushy, lacking in both the brilliance I associate with Rhapsody in Blue and in the lush romanticism of orchestrations of some of his songs.

In short, I avoided it.

Now I know why. I had always heard it in Gershwin's own orchestration. And, to be quite honest, it is conventional, and not suited to his jazzy style. Although he had been in Paris and was influenced by Le Six (the great composer Poulenc was one of this group), their innovative style did not rub off in this orchestration.

Then I heard Thibaudet's recording on the radio. I wanted to say "Where have you been all my life?" It was as if this was a whole new piece, infused with all the sparkle I have loved in Gershwin for over 50 years.

I remained skeptical until I heard it again. It IS that wonderful. The smaller jazz orchestra and Ferdy Graufet's orchestration combine with Geshwin's music into something that shows both its jazz roots and Gershwin's mature style.

It turns something that was dull into something that is polished. The combination that made Rhapsody in Blue so iconic combined again, over Gershwin's objections, to make this wonderful piece. The Gershwin estate prevented it from being recorded until recently. It is to their honor that they have allowed it now for "historical interest." But just as Graufet's jazz orchestra rendition of Rhapsody in Blue is now the standard, this should become the standard for Concerto in F.

This CD was/is the best instrumental of Rhapsody in Blue I've personally ever heard. I love the variations on the theme some of
which were just simply put... great combinations of sounds.

It's insolent, it's whimsical, it's sassy, it's rowdy, it's free, it's JAZZY! It's the epitome of what Gershwin's jazz should be, and that I wouldn't have imagined until hearing it. But after hearing it -- just like hearing George Gershwin drivingly perform his "Rhapsody" via piano roll with Tilson-Thomas -- this is how this music must be! Like Amazon reviewer Janet Perry said: "Where have you been all my life?"

I never cared at all for the "Concerto in F" before. Now I LOVE it.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Marin Alsop have done for Gershwin what Glenn Gould and Vladimir Golschmann have done for Bach.

In his review of this CD in the Sept/Oct issue of the "American Record Guide," Mark Koldys comments that "the staid, uptight performances accomplish a difficult task -- they make this vivacious music sound uninteresting."

I have to agree with Mr. Koldys. The problem with these interpretations is that they sound fussy and mannered, along with coming across as emotionally uninvolved. As you might guess from looking at the cooly facile photo of the pianist that graces the program booklet cover for the CD, Monsieur Thibaudet tends to take a somewhat emotionally detatched approach in much of his music-making, which I actually find refreshing in certain concertos that have had more than their share of overdone "heart on sleeve" performances. But with Gershwin, detachment's usually not going to get you anywhere you'd like to end up.

And Thibaudet's not helped at all by Marin Alsop, who is busily plumbing the depths of the score attempting to find those elusive special musical elements that have somehow escaped the eyes and ears of other conductors. Not only is there really nothing new to find, the result, as in so many of her other recordings, is a performance that fails to add up to the sum of its parts.

Mr. Koldys refers to the orchestra as sounding "stuffy and bloated" here. That's not the fault of the Baltimore players; the blame for this falls squarely on "you know who."

There are so many great recordings of the Rhapsody out there -- more with the "conventional" symphonic orchestration of course. If you're looking for ones featuring the jazz orchestration, Byron Janis (RCA) and Eugene List (Vox) have done some really snappy ones. As for the Concerto in F, I'm partial to Eugene List (Mercury), Peter Donohoe (EMI) or Michael Rische (Arte Nova). Others might prefer the Earl Wild/Arthur Fiedler collaboration on RCA/BMG, but that one is a bit too raucous and hard-edged for my taste. Avoid Michel Camilo on Telarc -- both the Rhapsody and the Concerto on that CD are disappointing interpretively, along with too many rushed passages and wrong notes getting in the way of enjoyment.

The French are famously crazy for "le jazz," and Paris has been the last stand for many an aging American great like trumpet Chet Baker. It's too much to expect Thibaudet to sound like Leonard Bernstein on his classic Columbia LP of 'Rhapsody in Blue,' now on Sony. Even the older Bernstein, when he did a remake for DG, didn't sound like his brash younger self anymore. A lot of blues has run under the bridge since then, and we have any number of variations on the original jazz band orchestration done for Paul Whiteman as well as rearrangements with strings added. This new one, using the original instrumentation, finds Thibaudet on middle ground -- for a Frenchman he swings, but for an American he's square. The presence of Marin Alsop guarantees a tinge of authenticity, but I've never felt much swing from her, either. One irritation is an over-active clarinet cutting loose in the opening; another is Thibaudet's sudden punchy interjections, which I suppose are his own inspiration.

At nearly 10 min. the cheerful variations on "I Got Rhythm" for piano and jazz ensemble (no strings, extra saxophones) is fairly substantial. Thibaudet is gallant in his attempts to sound American, but he's like Robin Williams playing an aspiring Russian sax player in Moscow on the Hudson -- when he sits in with real jazzmen, they know instinctively that he's not in the groove. We arrive on safer ground with the Concerto in F. Despite its jazzy keyboard techniques, Gershwin was breaking into the concert hall here, and his orchestral writing is just Carnegie Hall enough to allow Thibaudet's concert-pianist persona to fit in.

He takes every advantage to offer a bumptious, extroverted reading, and Alsop gets fairly bluesy, too. In all, it's the highlight of the CD. Bernstein didn't leave a recording to show us how it's really done, but Andre Previn on EMI is in the groove, so I can't say there's a prevailing reason to go for this new concerto recording. Previn's string body sounds much fuller, also, but I tend to like Alsop's horn-heavy sound. The new Decca certainly has excellent sound, and all the performances are appealing, with big technique from the soloist. A lot depends on how literally you take Duke Ellington's song, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." This CD has everything else.

A new fresh Gershwin.Classic,jazzy and moving.A great combination with the Baltimore and Jean Ives.This is the best version I've heard.Go get it.Tony G