Following a number of successful duo performances by Vesko Eshkenazy and Ludmil Angelov, the idea of recording a CD with the two of them began to take shape. Ludmil suggested doing something with music by George Gershwin.
However, Gershwin's original repertoire for violin and piano is rather limited. It consists of precisely one small composition entitled Short Story, which has so far remained little known, composed in association with the violinist Samuel Dushkin. Therefore, it was decided first to use the historic arrangements by Jascha Heifetz, the brilliant violinist and bosom friend of Gershwin. Heifetz' arrangement of the Three Preludes For Piano contains in the outer movements various spectacular violin passages such as could be written only by an exceptional virtuoso; by contrast, in the Andante it is the simplicity of the writing itself which demands the violinist’s full input. Apart from this arrangement, which he himself also recorded (and a frequently performed selection from Porgy and Bess), Heifetz also worked on a violin-piano arrangement of An American in Paris. Our CD begins with this work, the version of which was compiled from Heifetz’ remaining sketches by his pupil and accompanist, the Indonesian violinist and pianist Ayke Agus.
Gershwin’s musical songs are among his best-loved repertoire. The lyricism of their melodies makes them extremely suitable for violin, and with such an overwhelming array of choices for new arrangements, it was not easy to keep to a limit. Finally, we chose three so-called "Rhythm Songs" ( Fascinating Rhythm, I Got Rhythm and Clap Yo' Hands) and three Ballads (Someone To Watch Over Me, Embraceable You and Love Is Here To Stay). I based my arrangement of the three Rhythm Songs on the composer’s own piano versions, available in his George Gershwin Songbook (1932). This edition contains some eighteen transcriptions demonstrating the staggering talent of his art of improvisation. As the published versions are rather short, we thought it would be a good idea to lengthen the arrangements by the addition of the ever-surprising "verses", and to play around a bit with the musical design.
The executive producer, Job Maarse, suggested the addition of guest musicians in various numbers to offer a bit more spice to the original violin-piano concept. We felt especially honoured that a number of Vesko’s friends and colleagues from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra were interested in joining in our "Gershwin adventure". In the first place, we wanted to record Gershwin’s only string quartet, his early work Lullaby (1919), which was published posthumously. It is amazing to hear how the composer - who continued during his entire short life to supplement his brilliant intuition with knowledge and skills from the classical sector – had already mastered this material, which in fact was so alien to him, at such a young age.
Triple Tribute is the title we gave to a compilation of three remarkable instrumental works: this consists of Impromptu in Two Keys, Rialto Ripples and Two Waltzes in C.
To start with the middle panel of this triptych: Rialto Ripples (1917) is the earliest work on this CD and a good example of the enormous influence ragtime brought to bear on both Gershwin the composer and Gershwin the pianist throughout his entire life. At the time he wrote this (together with a colleague, Will Donaldson, who has remained unknown), he was still working as a young song-plugger for the music-publisher Remick & Co..
The other two works come from a theatrical background: the Impromptu (1929) was actually written for the Ziegfield musical East is West, which never got further than the drawing board. Luckily for us, Gershwin saved his compositions for later use: the immortal Embraceable You also stemmed from this doomed production!
Two Waltzes in C comes from the musical Pardon My English (1933), which did run for a while, but turned out to be a flop. In those days it was considered a risqué composition. Waltz No. I was nicknamed "His Waltz", and Waltz No. II "Her Waltz" – and they were followed by a brilliant entwinement of both themes, "Their Waltz". Gershwin was proud of it and enjoyed playing the work as a piano duet with his fellow Broadway composer Kay Swift, with whom he enjoyed a long friendship.
We also thought it would be great to do something with the Rhapsody In Blue (1924) – with Vesko's violin as the solo instrument! Of course, the famous opening glissando of the clarinet is a must; and the cello provides a warm and melodic reply. However, the toccata in the finale remains the domain of the piano. Considering the scope of the entire CD, we decided to shorten the work somewhat, with the greatest of care; this was possible, as a rhapsody consists more of a chain of themes and motives than a solid structure forming an indissoluble entity.
Just as the three "Rhythm Songs" chosen for the CD stand side by side in brotherly fashion, so also Someone To Watch Over Me and Embraceable You seem almost sisterly, with melodies of an almost classical beauty and harmony as only Gershwin could write. Such an abundance of expressive possibilities provides mouth-watering opportunities for a violinist like Vesko Eshkenazy, and gives a pianist like Ludmil Angelov the chance to demonstrate all his subtle nuances of toucher and colour. These two songs are also derived from musicals, respectively Oh, Kay! (1926) and Girl Crazy (1930).
As we had extra players at our disposal, we were also interested in including a longer composition in the selection for a larger cast of musicians. The idea of playing around with "classical" form in a medley attracted us. Fantasy In Seven Colors (which refers to our seven musicians) consists of 14 songs, ordered roughly according to the chronology of Gershwin's oeuvre. It turned into a kind of "Kammersinfonietta", with the four movements allegro-andante-scherzo-finale running on into each other. The angular, bluesy character of I'll Build A Stairway To Paradise and the flowing, lyrical character of The Man I Love made these the perfect choice for the first and second theme of the allegro; Do It Again forms the transition in between, and Somebody Loves Me is used for the final phrase. Love Walked In became the intro and finale of the entire medley. The ballads Liza and But Not For Me were both used for the andante; and the up-tempo numbers I Got Plenty o' Nuttin' and By Strauss became the Scherzo. The finale consists of a rondo-like number with three songs taken from the last year of Gershwin's life: They Can't Take That Away From Me, A Foggy Day, and Let's Call The Whole Thing Off. Motives from It Ain't Necessarily So are threaded through this; and the coda from Nice Work If You Can Get It finally leads us back to the main motive.
To follow this exuberant medley, we chose Love Is Here To Stay, the moving swan-song of the genius George Gershwin, who die