[ EMI Classics Great Recordings of the Century / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 20 April 1998
As a luminary in the worlds of classical music, jazz and show business, André Previn is the ideal interpreter of these ground-breaking works by George Gershwin. Previn, here both pianist and conductor, spent eleven years in charge of the London Symphony Orchestra, and his close relationship with its players bears fruit in sumptuous performances that go with a captivating swing.
*** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo Guide.
"The digital remastering of Previn's EMI set, made at the beginning of the 1970s, has brought a striking enhancement of the recording itself. There is now much more sparkle, and the extra vividness comes without loss of body; indeed in the concerto the strings sound particularly full and fresh and the piano timbre clean and natural."
(Penguin Guide)
"Previn's [performance of the Concerto] has great virtues; the touching solo playing at the end of the slow movement, for example, and the tremendous virtuosity of the LSO in the finale … A splendid performance of An American in Paris, full of virtuoso playing and of real character." (Gramophone)
Rhapsody in Blue
An American in Paris, tone poem
Piano Concerto in F major