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Let us bait an introductory hook.
tively smoldering.
— Reviewed by John Godfrey
GERSHWIN: Porgy and Bess,
selections; Blue Monday ("Opera
a la Afro-American); Telarc
80434. GERSHWIN: The Com-
plete Orchestra Collection —
Works for Piano and Orchestra;
(Telarc 80445). The Cincinnati
Pops Orchestra; Erich. Kunzel, con-
ductor.
Now these two CDs are a lot of
Gershwin. Aside from his songs,
it's just about all of Gershwin.
And note the world premiers: The
original version of the "Opera a la
Afro-American," Blue Monday,
Mexican Dance and the choral
work 0 Land of Mine, America.
Pianists William Tritt and Stew-
art Goodyear do a nice, idiomati-
cally Gershwin job on the works
for piano and orchestra. Rhapsody
in Blue is played in the original
version first played by Paul White-
man and his orchestra at the
work's premier in 1924, which
means the orchestra is the size of
an enlarged dance band.
The Porgy and Bess selections
are excellent. They are sung by a
top-flight, very enthusiastic cast,
including Marquita Lister (a
Michigan Opera Theatre favorite)
and Cab Calloway.
Blue Monday dates from 1924,
the same year Rhapsody in Blue
was premiered. The reconstruction
here is by Maestro Kunzel. In the
notes to Blue Monday, he writes,
"The sources for my edition of
this original version are the origi-
nal piano sketches by George, the
original Will Vodery orchestration,
and the Buddy De Sylva text,
copies of which all are housed in
the Library of Congress."
— Reviewed by King Durkee
S'WONDERFUL: The Great
Gershwin Decca Songbook; vari-
ous artists. MCA.
Twenty memorable perfor-
mances, delivered between 1937
and 1960 for the Decca label, high-
light this tribute album. Sammy
Davis Jr.'s "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin" )
from Porgy and Bess, Ella Fitzger-
ald's "My One and Only (What
Am I Gonna Do?)," Bing Crosby's
"But Not For Me" and Teresa
Brewer's "They Can't Take That
Away from Me" are highlights.
GERSHWIN from page 91
wear your hat," which beautifully fit
the melodic progression. "Those
extra notes make it a much more
insistent piece of music," Feinstein
explains.
Still, respect for Gershwin has
been long in coming. Never strong
on structure or orchestration, Gersh-
win was a prime target for detractors.
Fellow composers were particulaily
hard on him. Composer Aaron Cop-
land dismissed Gershwin as a light-
weight, saying that "on one occasion,
when we were finally face-to-face ...
we found nothing to say to each
other."
Composer and music critic Virgil
Thomson blasted Gershwin's "Con-
certo in F" in a particularly brutal
review from 1950, calling it "a piece
so poorly conceived, with its over-
weening Tchaikovskian intent, and
so weakly inspired, with its derivative
themes and mechanical develop-
ments, that it rarely sails before the
wind." And where did composer-
conductor Leonard Bernstein stand
on the Gershwin issue?
"Bernstein went into great detail
about the flaws and defects in Gersh-
win's concert music," says Feinstein.
"He was jealous — there's no ques-
tion. What Bernstein would have
given to have composed Porgy and
Bess. He always wanted to write the
great American opera. Unfortunately
for him, Gershwin had already writ-
ten it."
Gershwin died from a brain tumor
at age 38 in 1937, following the path
of such composers as Mozart,
Mendelssohn and Schubert, who also
died in their 30s. His death was a
heart-breaker — the century's great-
est loss to American music.
Perhaps the grandest Gershwiii
program ever staged was the Holly-
wood Bowl memorial concert pre-
sented by musical colleagues in
1937. Broadcast on radio around the
globe, it was recently released on CD
on the North American Classics
label.
Ever questioning his accomplish-
ments, Gershwin doubted that his
songs would outlast his era. Happily,
he was wrong. Gershwin's music
remains a staple of concert stages and
recording studios, whether during his
centenary year or any other.
To paraphrase one of his songs,
the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar
may tumble — they're only made of
clay. But Gershwin's music's here to
stay.
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Simply because we're confident that the experience will bring you back.
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Detroit Jewish News
93