Composer: Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin
Performer: Julian Jacobson, Mariko Brown
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: SOMM
Release: 2021
Size: 0.99 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Bernstein: West Side Story: Symphonic Dances
01. I. Prologue
02. II. Somewhere
03. III. Scherzo
04. IV. Mambo
05. V. Cha-cha
06. VI. Meeting Scene
07. VII. Cool Fugue
08. VIII. Rumble
09. IX. Finale
10. Gershwin: Second Rhapsody
11. Gershwin: An American in Paris, tone poem
12. Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Receiving first recordings are Jacobson’s own joyfully virtuosic transcriptions for four hands/one piano of two Gershwin classics. Described by Gershwin as ‘the most modern music I’ve attempted’, An American in Paris takes four sailors from the epicentre of New York to the heart of Paris during its celebrated Années folles. It marked a significant development in orchestral technique for the composer, a quality accented by Jacobson’s exciting new arrangement. Revelling in even greater sophistication, the Second Rhapsody was, claimed Gershwin, ‘the best thing I have written’. Distilling its crafted innovation, Jacobson’s articulate new transcription makes a persuasive case for a curiously undervalued masterpiece. Transcribed by Henry Levine, Gershwin’s ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue brilliantly distils the euphoric paean to New York and what Robert Matthew-Walker’s informative booklet notes describes as its ‘seamless outpouring of melodic invention’. Matthew-Walker’s notes also reveal how the influence of a shared Russian heritage led to a new vibrancy in American 20th-century music as epitomised by Gershwin and Bernstein, two hugely influential masters of form and colour. John Musto’s acclaimed two-piano transcription of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story captures all the drama, poetry, romance and wit of this ground-breaking score while sacrificing none of its blazing ardour and energy.