BaL 25.02.12 - Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

may i put forward a little jazbo solidarity with G Smith's articulate to the point and sensitive analysis of the recordings, i was left wanting all four .... Previn Bollani Macgregor and the Thibaudet .... i do feel that when it comes to Gershwin that this piece makes our loss clear ... a much appreciated BAL for me

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

i do feel that when it comes to Gershwin that this piece makes our loss clear

Wasn't he working on/sketching/thinking about a String Quartet when he died? The very idea is mouth-watering.

[visualnickmos]

I didn't hear the programme; did Wayne Marshall (Aalborg Symphony) on Virgin Classics, get a mention? I bought this a few years ago after it was favourably reviewed on CD review. And I'm glad I did.

[PJPJ]

I'm definitely buying the Toscanini - haven't laughed as much in a long time!

Pretty awful, wasn't it!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I didn't hear the programme; did Wayne Marshall (Aalborg Symphony) on Virgin Classics, get a mention? I bought this a few years ago after it was favourably reviewed on CD review. And I'm glad I did.

Yes; briefly at the beginning of the review. He didn't like the rubati Marshall thought appropriate - he thought it interfered with the momentum of the work/1st movement.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Pretty awful, wasn't it!

Absolutely amazing! Like a forty-year-old Geography teacher at a Sixth Form Disco! Unmissable!

[visualnickmos]

Thanks ferney.

I will stick with it. For me, this is not a 'multiple recordings' work.... brilliant though it is, without a doubt.
It's strange how some works make you want more performances to savour, and for some others the 'one-size-fits-all' approach is quite enough.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes; and although he selected Previn with Kostelanetz, he didn't really have time for either of the later Previns. So everyone who went for his choice of Rhapsody in Blue five years ago (EDIT: Previn/LSO) will have been "lumped" with a version of the Piano Concerto he didn't rate today! (Similarly, the Bernstein Rhapsody with Bernstein - the coupling for the Previn/Kostelanetz Pno Conc - was one he didn't choose 5 years ago!

Oh the joys of rip and burn!

[Barbirollians]

I have all three Previns and I think the second is the best I didn't agree with the reviewer at all on the pair of them.

[Bryn]

I only heard the early part of the survey. What was/were the final recommendation(s).

[Bryn]

Currently listening to the Thibaudet, which I had quite forgotten I had got from a charity shop (it was still sealed in its plastic film wrapper). I now vaguely recall not bothering to open it at the time of purchase as I knew Gershwin had rejected Grofe's messing with it. It's fun, but it ain't what Gershwin intended. Damn it! It ain't Gershwin!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I only heard the early part of the survey. What was/were the final recommendation(s).

Previn's first recording (with Andre Kostelanetz) "won", with honourable mentions for MacGregor (with Carl Davis IIRC), Bollani/Chailly and Thibauldet/Allsop as a "special interest".

[Bryn]

Previn's first recording (with Andre Kostelanetz) "won", with honourable mentions for MacGregor (with Carl Davis IIRC), Bollani/Chailly and Thibauldet/Allsop as a "special interest".

Thanks fg, now ordered the Previn/Kostelanetz via the amazon.co.uk marketplace. I had to do a double take re. the Bernstein billing on the cover.

[Tony Halstead]

I had the great pleasure of playing on Previn's 2nd recording of the Pno Concerto in about 1971-2 ( oh dear, the 'little grey cells')
and can honestly say that those sessions were hugely enjoyable and - for the LSO - relatively stress-free, everybody simply pulling together and responding to Andrè's infectious enthusiasm and stylish mastery of the idiom, not to mention his superb piano playing and of course his ability to conduct and play simultaneously.
Memories such as this stay with you all your life.

[verismissimo]

Wonderful, waldhorn!