Gershwin Plays Gershwin
The first of these two discs gathers all Gershwin's commercially issued discs as a pianist, including the two abridgedRhapsody in Bluetraversals, Gershwin accompanying the Astaire siblings, and twelve solo sides. Hearing the composer play his own music is like getting your ears cleaned out from 75 years of interpretive maulings. Gershwin's crisp touch, clear-cut and unsentimental phrasing, and rhythmic verve comes through more convincingly in these flat discs than in his much-vaunted piano rolls. Also included are the composer-supervised first recordings ofAn American in Parisand selections fromPorgy & Bess, along with a flawed yet revelatory aircheck of Gershwin playing the finale of his concerto. No Gershwin lover should be without this important collection.--Jed Distler