Selections recorded July 2, 1997 and June 30, 1998.
For this 100th-birthday collection of the music of George Gershwin, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas combined Gershwin's own "Catfish Row" suite from 'Porgy and Bess'--rather than the better-known suite from the opera by Robert Russell Bennett--with four songs. It was this assemblage which Thomas performed at the 1998 gala opening concert of Carnegie Hall. With him on that evening, and in recording this program, were singers Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, stars of the original production of the musical 'Ragtime' on Broadway.
The remainder of the collection provides an ample, well-performed selection of Gershwin's non-'Rhapsody in Blue' orchestral music. (For that 'Rhapsody' from Thomas, you'll need the album NEW WORLD JAZZ with the New World Symphony, also on RCA Victor.) Thomas and Garrick Ohlsson provide sparkling pianism for the 'Second Rhapsody' and 'Concerto in F' respectively, and the San Francisco Symphony is in fine form throughout.