Customer Reviews

Gershwin: Works for Piano & Orchestra

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of my favorite CD's of all time. Excellent performances by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra of all of the classical works of George Gershwin. An incredible 140 minutes! The "Concerto in F" is one of the best I have ever heard. If all you know of Gershwin's serious side is the "Rhapsody in Blue" buy this and listen to the "Concerto in F." Its second movement is as thrilling as anything Gershwin has done. Great value for your money.

This is a terrific collection of Gershwin's orchestral music, including all of his works for piano and orchestra, all at a bargain price. Jeffrey Siegel's piano playing is great, as is Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. For the bargain hunter in search of Gershwin, this is the set to buy.

I own many recordings of Gershwin but this inexpensive colection is my favorite! The performances are moving, the recording is excellent, and the whole package cannot be beat for value. Simply a great value!!!

I'm confused by the previous reviewer's comments.

The engineering is fine analog, but it isn't "in your face" kind of engineering (a la some older Sony recordings; Bernstein's are some of the worst offenders, although recent remasterings have tamed them somewhat), it isn't brightly lit (ditto a lot of von Karajan's DG recordings), but it's pretty natural. Nothing is spotlit, and sounds the way one would hear it in the concert hall. I would hazard that sound systems have a way of filtering the music. I've found that some of my terribly-engineered, really ancient monophonic recordings sound much better on lesser equipment, while my best engineered recordings sound mediocre on lesser equipment, but wonderful on the high end stuff. And the speakers, and, well, this isn't about equipment. Just second guessing how the impression can be made that the enginnering is poor on this disc.

Powell Symphony Hall, while not the sonic masterpiece that is, for example, New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall (one of the best I've ever been in), is still a wonderful acoustic space, both for listener and player (it's one of those halls where I was able to hear myself play as well as I was the whole orchestra, and you can almost feel your sound being projected into the auditorium). The hall, btw, is gorgeous, graceful, and characterful; much so than the design of Symphony Hall in Chicago (brilliantly finished, btw), or the cavernous feel of the hall in Boston. While some of Slatkin's RCA recordings in Powell recess the sound too much, such is not the case here.

The performances are electrifying, with the exception of the Concerto in F. Even that piece, an awkward attempt on Gershwin's part, has many rewarding aspects, and the performance reveals many of them. Seigel isn't a "polished" pianist--I'd never be interested hearing him play Mozart based on these performances--but here his style (or the style he has captured) is just right.

These are classics in the Gramophone. Not that the critical consensus (well, as consensual as it ever gets) is always correct, but I agree with them.

I have been privileged to listen to Jeffrey Siegel's Keyboard Conversations in Fairfax, VA for many years. I heard him play some Gershwin during one performance, and I had to buy this CD. If you like Gershwin, if you like great piano, if you like music, this is a CD that belongs in your collection

I thought I had every Gershwin recording, even Gershwin playing himself, but I had not heard his Lullaby. This album had it. I am delighted.

If only 0 stars were an option!

I found these interpretations of Gershwin lacking; both in the orchestra and piano. None of the performances reached out and pulled me in, they left me wondering what anyone could possibly hear in Gershwin. Thankfully I own several recordings which do not leave me feeling that way! Specificaly in the Rapsody in Blue: Mr. Siegel does not demonstrate a command of the piece; more than once I wondered if he was practicing the piece instead of performing it, as his approach was tenative at best. Mr. Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony rendered the piece with a lush/loose orchestral feel that just does not feel right.

The sound engineering is wanting in all of these performances; the balance between orchestra and piano is poorly maintained throughout. I found the piano lost in sections where a balance between forces is called for. Exchanges between piano and various instruments routinely found one or the other anoyingly out of balance. Nothing in the notes describes the recording process, but from the instances of voice dropout I would hazard to guess that two micropones were placed in the worst seats available in Powell Symphony Hall with the subsequent recordings transfered directly to disc with no review or attempt at editing. What an engineering travesty!

Overall I was glad when the CD's were done. I pulled out other recordings and played numerous tracks back to back to see if I had missed something. I had not! All around the performances are insipid and uninspiring, and I can usually find something redeeming in just about everything to which I give a listen.

If you want an inspired performance of Rhapsody in Blue that will reach out and grab you from the opening wail of the clarinet to the closing orchestral chord, get the recording made by Michael Tilson Thomas and the LA Philharmonic. Unfortunately, he did not record all the orchestral pieces you find in this recording.