Gershwin - The 100th Birthday Celebration
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Gershwin
Label: Red Seal
Magazine Review Date: 12/1998
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 111
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 09026 68931-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Catfish Row |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
| Porgy and Bess, Movement: Summertime |
George Gershwin, Composer
Audra McDonald, Soprano Brian Stokes Mitchell, Baritone George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
| Porgy and Bess, Movement: My man's gone now |
George Gershwin, Composer
Audra McDonald, Soprano Brian Stokes Mitchell, Baritone George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
| Porgy and Bess, Movement: Bess, you is my woman now |
George Gershwin, Composer
Audra McDonald, Soprano Brian Stokes Mitchell, Baritone George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
| Porgy and Bess, Movement: There's a boat dat's leavin' |
George Gershwin, Composer
Audra McDonald, Soprano Brian Stokes Mitchell, Baritone George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
| Second Rhapsody for piano and orchestra |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Piano San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
| (An) American in Paris |
George Gershwin, Composer
George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
| Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
George Gershwin, Composer
Garrick Ohlsson, Piano George Gershwin, Composer Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor San Francisco Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Patrick O'Connor
As Ira Gershwin might have said, Michael Tilson Thomas and George Gershwin go together like bread and cheese. More than ten years ago Tilson Thomas spearheaded the authentic revival of Gershwin’s theatre scores with Of Thee I Sing and Let ’Em Eat Cake. Both his recordings of Rhapsody in Blue (Sony, 1/86 and 3/88) are top recommendations, so in the mini-avalanche of Gershwin centenary recordings this set stands out. Gershwin gave one of his last public performances with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra a few months before his death in 1937. The programme then included both the Catfish Row suite from Porgy and Bess and the Concerto in F.
To bring in the voices, the Suite has been expanded for this performance to include four songs. Tilson Thomas and his colleagues present an exquisitely poised understanding of the jazz influences on the opera and Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell both sing with an understated evocation of the Southern accents of the characters.
Tilson Thomas himself attacks the Second Rhapsody with glittering, humorous style. It’s a more sophisticated piece than Rhapsody in Blue and more difficult to control with its many alterations of pace – Gershwin originally titled it Rhapsody in Rivets. While in a way it seems like a return to the same material as Rhapsody in Blue, it really looks forward to the new decade – it was composed in 1931 – with its Cuban dance rhythms.
It’s another measure of Tilson Thomas’s special affinity with this music that a piece as familiar as An American in Paris sounds freshly exciting. The snatches of La mattchiche, the 1905 song success in Paris, that Gershwin incorporates, make a strange link with the Cuban influences in the Second Rhapsody. La mattchiche was described by its authors Borel-Clerc, Briollet and Lievre as being based on a “celebrated Spanish march”. It’s high time we had a chance to hear the whole of Show Girl from which An American in Paris comes. With Treasure Girl they are the two important stage works from the height of Gershwin’s success that have lain dormant for over half a century.
Garrick Ohlsson plays the Concerto in F with especially beautiful soft tone in the middle movement and the orchestra respond with Tilson Thomas, bringing out both the blues-orientated detail and the pre-echo of Ravel.'
To bring in the voices, the Suite has been expanded for this performance to include four songs. Tilson Thomas and his colleagues present an exquisitely poised understanding of the jazz influences on the opera and Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell both sing with an understated evocation of the Southern accents of the characters.
Tilson Thomas himself attacks the Second Rhapsody with glittering, humorous style. It’s a more sophisticated piece than Rhapsody in Blue and more difficult to control with its many alterations of pace – Gershwin originally titled it Rhapsody in Rivets. While in a way it seems like a return to the same material as Rhapsody in Blue, it really looks forward to the new decade – it was composed in 1931 – with its Cuban dance rhythms.
It’s another measure of Tilson Thomas’s special affinity with this music that a piece as familiar as An American in Paris sounds freshly exciting. The snatches of La mattchiche, the 1905 song success in Paris, that Gershwin incorporates, make a strange link with the Cuban influences in the Second Rhapsody. La mattchiche was described by its authors Borel-Clerc, Briollet and Lievre as being based on a “celebrated Spanish march”. It’s high time we had a chance to hear the whole of Show Girl from which An American in Paris comes. With Treasure Girl they are the two important stage works from the height of Gershwin’s success that have lain dormant for over half a century.
Garrick Ohlsson plays the Concerto in F with especially beautiful soft tone in the middle movement and the orchestra respond with Tilson Thomas, bringing out both the blues-orientated detail and the pre-echo of Ravel.'
Gershwin - The 100th Birthday Celebration
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