Composer: George Gershwin, John Harbison, Joan Tower, Walter Piston
Performer: Kevin Cole
Orchestra: National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic
Conductor: David Alan Miller
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Release: 2020
Size: 1.31 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
George Gershwin:
Piano Concerto in F major
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Adagio – Andante con moto
03. III. Allegro agitato
John Harbison:
04. Remembering Gatsby
Joan Tower:
05. Sequoia
Walter Piston:
Symphony No. 5
06. I. Lento – Allegro con spirito
07. II. Adagio
08. III. Allegro lieto
This programme represents American orchestral music in all of its verve and expressive variety. Following the sensational success of Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin’s Concerto in F was his first foray away from jazz bands into the concert hall, recorded here for the first time in a new critical edition by Timothy Freeze based on the composer’s own notation and performances. John Harbison’s Remembering Gatsby is a foxtrot that evokes the sonorities of 1920s dance bands, while Joan Tower’s Sequoia reflects her fascination with these silent giants of the tree world. Walter Piston’s contribution to the development of 20th-century American music cannot be underestimated, and his Fifth Symphony successfully blends twelvetone modernity with reflective profundity and a finale that evokes a spirit of joy and optimism.