Gershwin rhapsody

"Titled "The Gershwin Moment" this album of George Gershwin works features the outstanding playing of Kirill Gerstein, the Russian/American pianist, all captured in live performance ... Singer Storm Large ... performs "Summertime" with aplomb, making a glorious sound, rich and earthy with marvellous diction. The solo piano works, ideal encore pieces, Earl Wild's "Virtuoso Etudes" after Gershwin and Oscar Levant's "Blame it on my Youth" for piano and vibraphone (played by Gary Burton) are given a captivating bluesy feel by Gerstein which adds to the jazz elements of the writing".

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"Editor's choices - February 2018: Gerstein trained as a jazz pianist alongside his classical studies, and it shows: the Rhapsody (give here in its original jazz-band incarnation) comes up as fresh as paint in a performance that sounds as if it's being extemporised after-hours among friends, and the langorous but blissfully unsentimentalised Summertime (with Pink Martini vocalist Storm Large) is irresistible".

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"Including works by Earl Wild and Oscar Levant, the disc gives full rein to Gerstein's jazz talents in all their liquid, apparently effortless variety. The Rhapsody is heard in a live performance - full of fat, moody brass - of the jazz-band arrangement".

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"Danacord ... er i gang med at indspille en antologi af amerikansk klavermusik, og det med en fremtrædende amerikansk pianist Cecile Licad. Helt frisk er vol. 4, der indeholder al George Gershwins musik for klaver med orkester. Cd'en må blive en succes ... [I] et hovedværk som "Rhapsody in Blue" ... lever man med fra første takt med saxofonens stemningsgivende optakt ... Cecile Licad swinger herligt i hver en tone. Det er både jazz og klassisk ... men først og fremmest er det rytmisk inciterende. Endnu en "Second Rhapsody", den kendte "Concerto i F" og variationer over "I Got Rhytm" er med. Også den rytmiske side klares overbevisende af Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester ... Der spilles flot, præcist og medrivende på optagelsen i Alsion koncertsalen".

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"Jeremy Nicholas's comprehensive liner notes include a fair bit of Gershwin anecdote and trivia. This makes for enjoyable reading. The South Denmark Philharmonic Orchestra with their conductor Gerard Salonga give good accounts all four works. I noted the classical mood in much of this recording. That does not imply that Cecile Licad does not handle the jazzy bits with impeccable taste. She has simply managed to create an interpretation which presents classically valid structures, as opposed to series of jazz-infused idioms threaded together like a string of pearls".

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"Variously for two pianos, piano solo or piano and voice (with Feinstein adding vocals on four tracks), the album includes two world premiere recordings, but most of the tracks are Gershwin mainstays ... They show off Feinstein's improvisational skills and Thibaudet's concert-pianist virtuosity, in arrangements by Earl Wild, Tedd Firth and Feinstein himself. Two brief medleys on the Rhapsody just about justify the album's title but no one should mind. The playing is toe-tapping, witty and irresistible".

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"George Gershiwn always had a foot in both the classical and Broadway camps and this disc too has a foot in both camps by bringing together Broadway star and cabaret artist, Michael Feinstein and classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet ... One would expect Feinstein to be at home in such a programme, but Thibaudet is no stranger to the jazz idiom, having recorded albums of music by Bill Evans and Duke Ellington ... It is evident throughout that the two performers have a great rapport and are enjoying themselves immensely and that sense of fun and discovery certainly comes across ... A class act indeed and one that I found thoroughly enjoyable".

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"The mission statement of ACT Records has for a long time been, "In The Spirit Of Jazz", and this is something that is important for the listener to keep clearly in mind when experiencing this recording for the first time. In itself it is a magnificent piece of work by one of the leading contemporary jazz pianists in Europe, alongside a phenomenal orchestra and a virtuoso classical violinist. But also, it has to be said that there is very little jazz involved, even by the standards of today's very broad church ... Not withstanding the absence of jazz per-say, mentioned above, this is a recording of shear beauty from start to finish and should prove an excellent addition to almost anyone's musical collection".

"Gershwin på fuld kraft af Riccardo Chailly og Gewandhausorchester og moderne jazzificering af fingergeniet Stefano Bollani i klaverkoncerten i F. De nyder det i jazzband-versionen af Rhapsody in Blue og i den symfoniske suite Catfish Row fra Porgy og Bess".

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"Freddy Kempf is totally efficient and well balanced in this recording, and in the finale his repeated-note panache is breathtaking, threatening to come unstuck - but it never does ... The chief attraction of this CD is getting all these pieces together in convincing performances".

"Grosvenor brings to his performance a high level of optimism and vitality - the playing is vigorous but sensitive too, and always there is a sense of quiet command. The orchestra is on top form in the Rhapsody ... in the Ravel Concerto Grosvenor is also consistently entertaining".

"Vurdering: Gramophone choice" - "After 20-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor's astonishing Decca solo album comes his first concerto disc, giving us one of the most dazzling records to have come my way for many years ... He has technique to burn and his pungency and force are things to marvel at ... A talent in a thousand".

"Editor's choice: What [Gerstein] serves up here is living, breathing Gershwin that doesn't shy from improvisation and yet retains all the crystal clarity and architectural cohesion of his interpretations of Liszt and Brahms. The result is sizzlin', sassy and smooth, and Robertson and his St Louis musicians are there every spontaneous step of the way ... Gerstein's music-making is direct from the heart, unsentimental but rich in sentiment ... And if something in the Mozartian grace and elegance of the Concerto's finale doesn't touch your heart, you may want to consult a cardiologist".

"At times Licad's full-power bravura [in Rhapsody in Blue] seems more appropriate to the Brahms B flat Concerto, as in the opening cadenza, for example ... Gerard Salonga's spirited tempos for the Concerto in F's outer movements are right on the money, and even the arguably extravagant rubato in Licad's opening solo conveys compelling character ... Licad and Salonga achieve a stronger meeting of minds in a well-integrated and expertly dovetailed performance of the Second Rhapsody".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "It's rare enough to have all four Gershwin works for piano anf orchestra on a single disc but rarer still for each one to come near or top of the class ... Strongly recommended".

"This inspired fusion of Thibaudet's concert-hall virtuosity and Feinstein's improvisatory skills, already honed on the road, to celebrate the centenary of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' turns out to be a musical marriage, if not made in heaven, then coming close to it ... for they know for certain how to put on a show! In whatever union, they sail through this Gershwin celebration with wit and style ... The lush sound from the Decca engineers spreads the icing on the cake of this glorious confection, communicated and performed with consummate skill by Jean-Yves and Michael".