George Gershwin · The 100th Birthday Celebration / A. McDonald · Stokes Mitchell · Ohlsson · SFS · Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas's Gershwin credentials are second to none, and include several recording premieres, most notably the first modern version of the original jazz band orchestration ofRhapsody in Blue(for Sony/Columbia). This new double-CD set offers an impressive selection of Gershwin favorites and rarities: theSecond Rhapsody, with Tilson Thomas himself at the piano;An American in Paris; the Concerto in F, this time with Garrick Ohlssohn as soloist; and finally, Gershwin's ownCatfish Rowsuite fromPorgy and Bess, here fleshed out with the best and most popular songs from the opera, ably sung by Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell. As a tribute to America's most popular composer, these swinging, idiomatic performances are irresistible.--David Hurwitz