Customer Reviews

New World Jazz

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

 

 

Michael Tilson Thomas is one of the great conductors of this century, having proven himself over and over again with the London and San Francisco Symphonys, and now the New World Symphony, a Florida-based training orchestra. In this recording he also shows that he's very adept to conducting jazz, as was his mentor Leonard Bernstein. What comes on this CD is a fun look back on jazz-influenced works of this past century. It starts with a treat by John Adams called "Lollapalooza", which sounds like, if you've heard as much Adams as I have recently, well, John Adams. The Gershwin "Rhapsody in Blue" is given a well done, if maybe a little long (on the piano solos, not the orchestral bits), reading with MTT at the keys. Bernstein's all too little known "Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs", written for Woody Herman but premiered by Benny Goodman, shows a composer totally at home in his element. It's a great piece and Ted Calcara does a fantastic job on the clarinet solos. Paul Hindemith's "Ragtime" is probably the angriest ragtime you'll ever hear, but it is a delight to come across. As for the rest of the CD, some of the pieces are rather well known (Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto" and Milhaud's "Creation") and some are not (Antheil's "Jazz Symphony"). It's a wonderful intro to a sort of symphonic jazz world, and Michael Tilson Thomas is the conductor to lead the way.

I bought this recording mainly for Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and it is THE best Rhapsody in Blue I have ever heard! I also love Lollapalooza by John Adams. Of all the wonderful tracks on here, my favorite has got to be Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue and Riffs. It blew me away! The end of that piece made me get up and dance! The New World Symphony Orchestra sounds terrific under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, who really knows how to conduct jazz! This copy is a must for everyone out there!

I've had better. I bought this CD for the Adams number, Lollapalooza, and was pleased. To my knowledge, there are very few recordings of this piece floating around out there, and I feel this one is the best - at the very least for the technical quality of the recording (eg all the instruments seem mic'd appropriately).

Gershwin is by far the biggest disappointment of the lot. Coming across paradoxically as miserably fast and strangely unenergetic, it leaves the listener wishing they'd spent the last 17 minutes mowing the lawn instead of wallowing in front of the stereo.

Not a bad album, but only for select pieces.

I saw MTT conduct several of these pieces at the SFSymphony at the American Mavericks series in June 2000. The performances knocked my socks off and sent me out, breathless to find more. This CD is one of my biggest disappointments. The performances simply don't swing and come off kind of lacklustre-like muzak versions of Jazz classics from the fifties. For Antheil, try to find Ensemble Modern. Gershwin is ALWAYS more lively than this-try Paul Whiteman's recordings. Willem Breuker Kollektief from Holland does great modern sounds. This is strictly sleepy time stuff.