Gershwin
(Fazil Say, piano; New York Philharmonic; Kurt Masur, conductor)
Fazil Say's take on the music of George Gershwin is not for the faint of heart, but it is engrossing. On Gershwin's piano miniatures, Say proves he can improvise as well as any jazz musician, and on the two longer works--"Rhapsody in Blue" and "I Got Rhythm Variations"--the pianist and the New York Philharmonic breathe new life into these warhorses. His side-by-side takes of "Summertime"--one reflective, one dizzying--are a highlight.
Girl Crazy (Nonesuch)
(Original Cast)
Widely known for its (very loose) 1943 Hollywood adaptation with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, this musical is among the Gershwins' very best. Originally a star vehicle for Bert Lahr, the original 1930 production also featured Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman. This new complete recording includes pros like Lorna Luft, Judy Blazer, Vicki Lewis, and David Carroll, and all of them do a bang-up job. The book is a mere pretext: most of the songs are self-contained and could be used in just about any story, and many quickly became classics ("Embraceable You," "But Not for Me," "I Got Rhythm," "Bidin' My Time.") The upbeat score--the original pit orchestra included Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, and Benny Goodman--sees George Gershwin in complete sync with his jazz-crazed times. There's barely a wrinkle on this 70-year-old show. (review by Elisabeth Vincentelli)
Porgy and Bess
(Gregg Baker, Harolyn Blackwell, et al; Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra; Simon Rattle, conductor)
An uncut Porgy & Bess may well be too long in the theater. On CD, though, you can play one act at a time, letting Gershwin's wide-eyed, inexhaustibly inventive score run its course at leisure in the comforts of your rumpus room. Some listeners might find Sir Simon Rattle's tempos on the draggy side, but he's got Gershwin's syncopated idiom down cold. Similarly, the singers fuse Gershwin's prodigious musical demands with effortless, characterful diction more succesfully than in other recordings, abetted by engineering that is both atmospheric and richly detailed. Full texts and excellent annotations round off this stellar achievement based on the highly acclaimed 1989 Glyndebourne Opera production. (review by Jed Distler)
