CD REVIEW
– GERSHWINICITY
ART
DECO TRIO
SOMMCD 0631
(71’00’)
'
This is an
entertaining release of 19 songs
by the foremost 'cross-over'
composer, the great George
Gershwin, arranged for clarinet,
saxophone and piano, which (to
quote the well-informed booklet
notes) "combine jazz
influences with the structures
and textures of classical
music", and well worth
investigating by light music
lovers.
The man behind the
disc is pianist and arranger Iain
Farrington, who played the piano
at the opening ceremony of the
London 2012 Olympics with Rowan
Atkinson, the LSO and Sir Simon
Rattle – watched by a global
audience of around a billion. He
also made the organ arrangement
of Elgar's Pomp and
Circumstance March No.5
performed at the Royal Wedding in
2011.
The clarinettist
is Peter Sparks, co-principal
clarinet at English National
Opera, also a recording session
musician (e.g., 'The Crown'). The
third member of the Trio is Kyle
Horch, the lead saxophonist (alto
and soprano) in the evocative
Michael Law's Piccadilly Dance
Orchestra among many other
musical activities including CD
recordings.
The title track is
a fantasy based on five Gershwin
songs – Let's call the
whole thing off, A foggy day in
London town, Fascinating rhythm,
Embraceable you, Lady be good
– first heard in 2018 at the
BBC Proms. Other tracks include I
got rhythm, They all laughed,
Nice work if you can get it, They
can’t take that away from
me, Fidgety feet, I’ll build
a stairway to Paradise, Do it
again (does anyone remember
Marilyn Monroe’s erotic
rendering?), But not for me
and a couple of numbers from 'Porgy
and Bess'. All are first
recordings and our friends at
Somm are to be congratulated on
making them available. They were
recorded at The Menuhin Hall,
Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, on
September 4-5, 2020, produced by
Siva Oke and engineered by Paul
Arden-Taylor.
I enjoyed this
album from start to finish,
reminding me somewhat of similar
discs by André Previn and
friends back in the day. So
unreservedly recommended, and I
reckon it would meet with
Gershwin's own approval.
© Peter
Burt 2021
That George
Gershwin was arguably one of the
greatest Popular Music composers
of the 20s and 30s is completely
beyond dispute. Moreover, he was
almost certainly the first to
become a 'crossover composer',
effortlessly straddling the
divide between the popular and
light-classical genres, with more
than just a bit of jazz
'thrown-in' for good measure. In
this respect he paved the way for
André Previn, Leonard Bernstein
and others – including, I
would suggest, Robert Farnon.
Many of Gershwin's
works have been the subject of
numerous arrangements, both vocal
and instrumental, over the years.
However, this is the first time
that they have been recorded
employing this particular –
not to say unusual –
line-up, viz. piano, clarinet and
soprano/alto saxophones.
Of the fifteen
tracks, six are performed by all
three instrumentalists. I was
particularly struck by the way in
which the clarinet and saxophone
blended so beautifully together,
e.g. in I Got Rhythm and
They All Laughed. A
couple of titles are performed
solo by Iain Farrington, the
Trio's pianist, arranger and
– I suspect – 'prime
mover' of the enterprise. The
remaining seven are performed by
either clarinet or saxophone
– of either variety –
accompanied by the piano.
I would like to
single-out for comment
Farrington's 'take' on Summertime
– a song which is a special
favourite of mine. This is a
really stunning arrangement and
for me is one of the highlights
of the whole programme.
I totally concur
with Peter Burt's comments above,
and I’m delighted to give
this new CD my unequivocal
recommendation.
Footnote: It is
saddening to have to record the
death of my friend Rodney
Greenberg at the end of 2020,
after a protracted illness.
Readers may recall the talk he
gave on George Gershwin to the
Robert Farnon Society around the
time of the new Millennium. There
have been innumerable books
written about Gershwin, but
Rodney’s has come to be
regarded by many as the
definitive work on a subject
which was palpably close to his
heart. Its second edition is
– I believe – still in
print, published by Phaidon
Books.
© Tony
Clayden 2021
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