Gershwin Songs Piano

The best of that rather extraordinary body of music written, often hurriedly, to meet the ephemeral needs of the American entertainment industry between the two world wars has proved durable beyond all expectation. Each of the songs on the present recording is characterised by melodic originality of a most personal kind. George Gershwin’s idiom was tinged from the beginning with jazz and the blues, and this had an effect on his rhythm and harmony, both of which still possess much piquancy.
In most cases the lyrics are by the composer’s brother, Ira, and they are almost equally accomplished, matching the extremely varied moods of the music well…

Michael Finnissy (b. 1946) is one of the most important post-war composers, known for his highly complex music and extreme demands on the performers.

George Gershwin - Rhapsody In Blue, An American In Paris, Broadway Overtures
George Gershwin, piano / Buffalo Philharmonic / Michael Tilson Thomas, dir.
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 353 MB | Full Artwork: 89 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: CBS Masterworks # SMK 42240 | Country/Year: Europe 198_
Genre: Jazz, Classical, Historical Recording | Style: Early 20th Century, Classic Jazz

The great musical border crosser of the twentieth century, George Gershwin excelled in the fields of concert music and popular song alike. The son of Jewish immigrants from Russia, he was born Jacob Gershvin in Brooklyn on September 26, 1898. His father ran a great variety of small businesses, and George, in the words of the New Grove Dictionary of Music, "excelled at street sports." He also studied the piano and was introduced to the European classics by his teacher, Charles Hambitzer…