|
|
|
|
|
|
HomeMusicSoundtracks |
|
|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Great Gershwin Aug 13, 2009
Great value for the price. Light classic and ragtime selections which tend to give you a 'good' feeling and yen to tap your feet. The arrangements are catchy and tend to stay with you.
Wonderful Gershwin music! Jan 11, 2009
This CD has a great collection of most of my favorites of Gershwin's pieces! The quality of sound is great and the performances are powerful. I recommend this CD to everyone!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Album for a Friend Aug 27, 2008
I sent a copy of this cd to my best friend Art who is learning to play the piano. Here is what I wrote.
Dear Art,
The 1890's and early 1900's had their Ragtime music. In the 1920's the popular sound was know as Tin Pan Alley. As a young composer George Gershwin was a major contributor to the Tin Pan Alley music genre.
This album is comprised mostly of Gershwin's Tin Pan Alley tunes with two exceptions; the most notable of these is a piece that he debuted in concert in 1925. It was a jazz/classical work that clearly shows its Tin Pan Alley roots. While it was panned by the critics of the day it is now considered to be one of the great works of classical music. It is his Rhapsody in Blue (track 5).
After listening to this album I now know that not only was Gershwin a great composer, he was a fantastic pianist. He had a terrific sense of rhythm anad he played around with the tempo of the music with wondrous effect.
I hope that you enjoy the album as much as I did. If not, at least you have a new coaster for your tea glass.
Your friend,
Bill
Who better to play Gershwin than Gershwin? May 27, 2008
I suppose when it comes right down to it, there is no better interpreter of a person's music than the composer himself. From that axiom alone, this CD takes on an educational and historical perspective that makes it well worthwhile. I say educational, because there can be no doubt that Gershwin is, well, a Gershwin authority. And although it is true that the recordings are a little "flat", especially when it comes to dynamics, the producers used the given technology (computers and a disk clavier) expertly enough to make the listener at least aware that these are no ordinary performances of Gershwin tunes. Particularly with Rhapsody in Blue, the movement through the range of emotions and tones is really quite stunning and exciting, setting itself apart from every other version you've ever heard. Even from there, the CD goes to Swanee, and it is hard not to feel you are back in the early jazz era, sitting in a parlor listening to a relative or family friend while away the hours playing "contemporary" music. Every song brings out some feature of George's playing, and while it may not be a tribute CD in that sense, it is east to believe that it was, in any event, possible George knew he was recording for posterity when he first sat and made the rolls. This is, in short, a very fascinating CD. I would think any student of American music could not do without it, and any jazz music collector could definitely build his or her early jazz collection around this recording.
A Caveat Jan 07, 2008
Astonishing as it may be to hear "performances" by famous pianists and composers on the reproducing pianos, it must be kept in mind that the "expression" (i.e. dynamics) were all added later, that is, after the pianist recorded the roll, to a special "coding" channel on the margins of the piano roll. We have no way of knowing whether this was done by the original player or by a piano roll editor. So these recordings may represent the original pianist's intentions in the area of tempo and timing, but not necessarily as regards dynamics.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
![G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Two-Disc Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JW709SQlL._SL75_.jpg "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Two-Disc Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]")
![Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RQUEopdlL._SL75_.jpg "Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour [Blu-ray]")
![Across the Universe [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T24FuHPEL._SL75_.jpg "Across the Universe [Blu-ray]")
![Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F27VzUl%2BL._SL75_.jpg "Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]")
