Recordings
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Gershwinicity - Songs by George Gershwin
arranged by Iain Farrington 1. I got rhythm: 2'02 2. They all laughed: 3'57 3. The man I love: 3'31 4. Nice work if you can get it: 3'46 5. Summertime: 7'56 6. They can't take that away from me: 4'51 7. Fidgety feet: 3'20 8. Our love is here to stay: 5'06 9. I'll build a stairway to paradise: 4'07 10. Do it again: 3'51 11. It ain't necessarily so: 2'42 12. Someone to watch over me: 4'52 13. I've got a crush on you: 3'45 14. But not for me: 2'49 15. Gershwinicity (Let's call the whole thing off - A foggy day in London town - Fascinating rhythm - Embraceable you - Lady be good): 14'18 Total: 71'00 SOMM Recordings - SOMM CD 0631 |
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Album available on Spotify here
Born in 1898, George Gershwin was brought up amidst the noise, energy and opportunity that was the cultural melting pot of early 20th-century New York. As the son of two Russian Jewish immigrants, Gershwin was part of a new generation of American musicians with a similar background, such as Irving Berlin, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. This mixture of old European traditions and fast-paced young America would result in a dazzling musical output that crossed boundaries of ‘popular’ and ‘serious’.
In that exciting era, New York was the heart of American popular song, where the music publishers plugged the songs on Tin Pan Alley, and the Broadway theatres entertained the public with their catchy tunes. George Gershwin worked mainly as a songwriter throughout his life, often with his brother Ira writing the lyrics. George’s ambitions and talent also drew him into the concert hall and the world of orchestral music, starting with the wildly successful Rhapsody in Blue in 1924. As one of the first and most successful ‘cross-over’ composers, Gershwin’s music was – and still is – regularly performed across the musical spectrum, by classical orchestras, jazz ensembles, pop and opera singers.
While classical musicians generally perform from the composer’s notated music, pop and jazz musicians improvise, arrange and adapt the raw material of the songs to make them their own. This freedom of expression often leads to a much wider degree of interpretation between performers, as a song becomes a fast-paced frenzy with one performer, or a slow, melancholic confession in another. While the basic melody and harmony of the song remains, an entirely new ‘composition’ is created by the performer.
These new arrangements explore the coming together of jazz and classical without deliberately recreating the original sound-world, and avoiding any sentimental sweetness. Although clearly drawing on the spirit of improvisation, they allow a harmonic and structural complexity that comes with notated music. Numerous re-harmonisations and modulations abound, along with much newly composed material. All three instruments have a shared heritage in classical and jazz, and a flexibility to embrace both genres. They possess the dynamic extremes from sublime tenderness to thrilling power and brilliance. As a duo, the clarinet and saxophone are capable of blending with each other perfectly, while also displaying their own individual characteristics.
The ensemble purposefully avoids the use of those quintessential jazz ensemble timbres: drum kit and double bass. Instead, the piano carries the rhythmic drive, giving a focus on the rich harmony, as well as the counterpoint between the instruments. The repertoire includes new versions of a wide range of music, including the Great American Songbook, familiar classical music as well as modern popular song. This recording of Gershwin songs is music of love, loss, loneliness and laughter.
Born in 1898, George Gershwin was brought up amidst the noise, energy and opportunity that was the cultural melting pot of early 20th-century New York. As the son of two Russian Jewish immigrants, Gershwin was part of a new generation of American musicians with a similar background, such as Irving Berlin, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. This mixture of old European traditions and fast-paced young America would result in a dazzling musical output that crossed boundaries of ‘popular’ and ‘serious’.
In that exciting era, New York was the heart of American popular song, where the music publishers plugged the songs on Tin Pan Alley, and the Broadway theatres entertained the public with their catchy tunes. George Gershwin worked mainly as a songwriter throughout his life, often with his brother Ira writing the lyrics. George’s ambitions and talent also drew him into the concert hall and the world of orchestral music, starting with the wildly successful Rhapsody in Blue in 1924. As one of the first and most successful ‘cross-over’ composers, Gershwin’s music was – and still is – regularly performed across the musical spectrum, by classical orchestras, jazz ensembles, pop and opera singers.
While classical musicians generally perform from the composer’s notated music, pop and jazz musicians improvise, arrange and adapt the raw material of the songs to make them their own. This freedom of expression often leads to a much wider degree of interpretation between performers, as a song becomes a fast-paced frenzy with one performer, or a slow, melancholic confession in another. While the basic melody and harmony of the song remains, an entirely new ‘composition’ is created by the performer.
These new arrangements explore the coming together of jazz and classical without deliberately recreating the original sound-world, and avoiding any sentimental sweetness. Although clearly drawing on the spirit of improvisation, they allow a harmonic and structural complexity that comes with notated music. Numerous re-harmonisations and modulations abound, along with much newly composed material. All three instruments have a shared heritage in classical and jazz, and a flexibility to embrace both genres. They possess the dynamic extremes from sublime tenderness to thrilling power and brilliance. As a duo, the clarinet and saxophone are capable of blending with each other perfectly, while also displaying their own individual characteristics.
The ensemble purposefully avoids the use of those quintessential jazz ensemble timbres: drum kit and double bass. Instead, the piano carries the rhythmic drive, giving a focus on the rich harmony, as well as the counterpoint between the instruments. The repertoire includes new versions of a wide range of music, including the Great American Songbook, familiar classical music as well as modern popular song. This recording of Gershwin songs is music of love, loss, loneliness and laughter.