Broadway – Philip's Assortment Box

George Gershiwn always had a foot in both the classical and Broadway camps and this disc too has a foot in both camps by bringing together Broadway star and cabaret artist, Michael Feinstein and classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. The two men have known each other socially for some time and hatched the idea of doing this programme over several dinners whilst they were appearing at the Napa Festival in 2021.

One would expect Feinstein to be at home in such a programme, but Thibaudet is no stranger to the jazz idiom, having recorded albums of music by Bill Evans and Duke Ellington, and he has of course, also made recordings of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto and Rhapsody in Blue. Most of the arrangements, and all of those for two pianos, are by Tedd Firth, but Thibaudet also plays some of Gershwin’s own pieces as well as Earl Wild’s wonderful arrangement of Embraceable You, whilst Feinstein sings his own arrangements of three songs (Someone To Watch Over Me, Embraceable You and They Can’t Take That Away From Me), Tedd Firth providing the arrangement for the fourth (Love Is Here To Stay).

The first eleven tracks comprise the Rhapsody in Blue Medley, in which Tedd Firth has bookended several of Gershwin’s songs with the beginning and end of the Rhapsody in Blue arranged for two pianos. In-between we get to hear Michael Feinstein sing to his own accompaniment, each of his solos complimented by an arrangement of the same song for solo piano played by Thibaudet. The Earl Wild arrangement of Embraceable You is particularly noteworthy and is brilliantly played by Thibaudet.

After the medley, which takes up almost half the length of the whole disc (quite short measure at 48 minutes) we move to a cheeky arrangement of Vincent Youmans’ Tea for Two, before returning to Gershwin. Apart from Love is Here To Stay, which is given a languidly gentle arrangement for Feinstein (this time by Firth), most of the songs on this latter half of the disc are less well-known, and two of the piano pieces (Graceful and Elegant and Under The Cinnamon Tree) are in fact receiving their first ever recording.

It is evident throughout that the two performers have a great rapport and are enjoying themselves immensely and that sense of fun and discovery certainly comes across. Feinstein is of course in his element in this material, but Thibaudet is no stranger to Gershwin either and he too sounds completely at home.

Rather than a programme of music arranged for two pianos, I liked the fact that what we have here is a mixture of solos and duets, with the vocal items adding to the variety. It’s a programme I can imagine going down very well in cabaret. A class act indeed and one that I found thoroughly enjoyable.

Gershwin: Gershwin Rhapsody (Decca)

This collection of Broadway songs by Bernstein, Blitztein, Sondheim and Weil is an absolute delight from beginning to end.

Aside from Bernstein’s I feel pretty and, to a lesser extent, his Glitter and be gay none of the items here could be considered well-known and the choice of this particular quartet of composers, all of whom are connected in some way, is felicitous. Furthermore Upshaw’s clear, bright soprano and natural, unforced diction make her the ideal interpreter.

It is rare indeed for classical singers to embrace the idiom of Broadway without sounding self-conscious, but if you didn’t know better, (and I mean this in a positive way) you would never know that Upshaw was also an operatic artist of the first order. Many opera singers have tackled Bernstein’s Glitter and be gay, but none have ever, to my mind, challenged the original performer Barbara Cook, who not only manages to get round the notes, but really puts across the humour in the lyrics; none, that is, except Dawn Upshaw, who actually manages the coloratura with greater ease and beauty, but also points the lyrics with such ironic brilliance.

It is just one of the highlights in an album of sheer delights and I’d be hard pressed to find a favourite but there were many wonderful discoveries, among them Sondheim’s The girls of summer (1956) and the opening track, sung to just piano, Blitztein’s I wish it so from Juno (1959).

Only Glitter and be gay uses the original orchestration, but all the other arrangements are well done and the orchestra play excellently under Eric Stern, who himself was responsible for some of the orchestrations and provides the solo piano accompaniment on I wish it so.

I can’t recommend this disc too highly.

Philip's Assortment Box

Tag: Broadway

Thibaudet & Feinstein – Gershwin Rhapsody

Dawn Upshaw – I Wish It So