The market is not exactly clamoring for a new recording of
Gershwin
's
Rhapsody in Blue
, but there are multiple distinctive features to this one, released in 2024 by the student
National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic
, conductor
David Alan Miller
, and pianist
Kevin Cole
. First of all, the three
works included (the
Second Rhapsody
and the
Cuban Overture
frame the
) are all based on a new
edition issued by the University of Michigan; this gets top billing in the booklet notes and is part of a series from these performers.
's works, the
above all, tend to exist in multiple forms, so a so-called critical edition is a vexing enterprise. The
version is based on
Ferde Grofé
's full-size orchestral arrangement, with added material from the jazz band version originally performed by
Paul Whiteman
's band in 1924. This makes the performance unique, and it will be of great interest to
fans. The
leans into the jazzier elements of the three
scores, of which the
, not often played, gets an especially crisp performance. Interesting, too, are the contemporary works by the octogenarian but still extremely sharp
Joan Tower
and
Steven Stucky
.
Tower
1920/2019
marks the dates of women's suffrage and the Me Too movement, but one is also struck by how well the piece, with its rhythmic vitality and lyrical second theme, fits with the
. Even
Stucky
Dreamwaltzes
, though in a more contemporary idiom, does not seem out of place. This is, in short, a completely fresh
album from young musicians who give one hope for the future of American classical music. ~ James Manheim