The Gershwin Moment

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... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2018 More…

Release Date: 23rd Feb 2018
Catalogue No: MYR022
Label: Myrios

Gramophone Magazine

March 2018

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February 2018

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Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson
Kirill Gerstein (piano)
jazz band version

Wild: Somebody Loves Me

Kirill Gerstein (piano)

Gershwin: I Got Rhythm (from Girl Crazy & An American in Paris)

Kirill Gerstein (piano)

Gershwin: Summertime (from Porgy and Bess)

Storm Large (vocals), Kirill Gerstein (piano)

Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F major

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson
Kirill Gerstein (piano)

Wild: Embraceable You

Kirill Gerstein (piano)

Levant: Blame It on My Youth

Gary Burton (vibraphone), Kirill Gerstein (piano)

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Read our exclusive interview with Kirill Gerstein about the recording here.

A Gershwin Moment is upon us: Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F — not so long ago marginalized repertoire in limbo between classical and popular genres — are now, unapologetically, concert staples. George Gershwin is finally recognized as an early harbinger of musical synergies that we now take for granted. No longer viewed as an „inspired dilettante,” betwixt and between, the new Gershwin is a confident master, versatile and visionary.

In this album recorded live, pianist Kirill Gerstein explores the music of George Gershwin. Together with conductor David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony he plays the Concerto in F as well as the original jazz band version of the Rhapsody in Blue. Program also includes a selection of Gershwin songs in solo piano arrangements by the American pianist Earl Wild. The album features Gerstein’s collaboration with two special guests: vocalist Storm Large sings Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Together with the legendary jazz vibraphonist, Gary Burton, Gerstein plays a jazz standard “Blame It on My Youth” written by Gershwin’s close friend, Oscar Levant.

Reviews

March 2018

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.

May 2018

This is a remarkable album. Berlin-based Kirill Gerstein studied jazz piano at Berklee, and is clearly finely attuned to Gershwin’s idiom. Rhapsody in Blue is heard in Grofé’s lean arrangement and the performance accordingly tight. Gerstein includes an interpolated cadenza in the concerto’s slow movement. The first movement is vibrant and the finale buzzes. Thomas Drake’s trumpet solos are impeccably laid back. Superb booklet notes treat Gershwin knowledgeably and seriously. Stunning.

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.

4th March 2018

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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