Great Recordings Of The Century - Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F, American in Paris / Previn, London SO

It is when one gets to Gershwin's excursions into orchestral music that problems arise, at least in my opinion. Don't get me wrong--there are many wonderful things about "Rhapsody in Blue," "An American in Paris," and the Piano Concerto in F. At their best, they abound in melodic invention and a swaggering jazzy charm.

Unfortunately, it must be said that they also have a tendency to meander in search of where to go next, and to rely on heavy doses of bombastic horn sforzandos and quick scalar piano runs in place of real ideas or development. For this listener, Gershwin's penchant for compensating for a lack of ideas with noise proves very tiresome, and weighs down the positive qualities of his concert music.

As far as the performances on this disc, you cannot do better than Andre Previn and the LSO. Previn's background as a jazz pianist and Hollywood orchestrator and arranger is ideally suited to the music at hand, and both the pianism and orchestral playing are outstanding. They are, indeed, as good as this music deserves.


The LSO ain't a great jazz ensemble   October 10, 2001
Robert Bezimienny (Sydney, NSW Australia)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

If this is the only rendition of these Gerswhin pieces you've heard, then you'll probably be satisfied; however if you have a copy of Jeffrey Siegel with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony, then you might be less charmed by Previn's approach and you could well be downright disappointed by some of the orchestral playing, particularly the brass and woodwinds. The sound quality is not ideal either, the piano relentlessly dominant, and the orchestral details indistinct, and despite the very recent remastering there is an edginess to the sound that is unnatural and distracting. For mine, definitely not one of the great recordings of the century.