THIBAUDET
plays GERSHWIN Rhapsody at
the Hollywood Bowl
Could a Frenchman possibly be today's leading Gershwin interpreter?
Jean-Yves signing autographs after his performance at the Bowl's "Gershwin
Celebration"
Why not? Especially if that
Frenchman also happens to be today's leading Ravel interpreter. If you are familiar
with the music of both Gershwin and Ravel, you know that the two composers go
together. At the height of their careers, they sought each other out: Gershwin
the preeminent tunesmith seeking to learn from Ravel the master orchestrator,
and Ravel in turn finding inspiration for his works in the syncopation and rhythm
of Gershwin's jazz. Thus, you don't even begin to wonder why Thibaudet has that
natural affinity for Gershwin, or for jazz in general.
At Maestro
Leonard Slatkin's inaugural week in July 2005 as Principal Guest Conductor
of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Thibaudet played
Gershwin with the bravura of a true jazz aficionado. By Thibaudet's own
admission, he is by virtue of his training a stranger to that hallmark element
of jazz - improvisation. Thus, though celebrated first and foremost as a
classical pianist, he lays no claim nor aspires to being known also as a
jazz artist. But jazz is one of his passions, and an opportunity that allows
him to express his art in the idiom of jazz is gladly accepted - and his
fans are all the happier for it.
At
the Bowl's Gershwin Celebration, Thibaudet performed three of Gershwin's works
for the concert hall: Concerto in F, Variations on "I Got Rhythm"
(both scored by him for piano soloist and orchestra) and Rhapsody in Blue,
the one-movement "jazz concerto" orchestrated by Ferde Grofé
that first gained for Gershwin notice as a composer of "real" music
- until then he was famous, yes, but as a miniaturist composer of songs and
little pieces.
It
was Rhapsody - available in three versions, Slatkin announced from
the podium - that we had occasion to enjoy. For this special Gershwin event
the Maestro chose the arrangement that blends jazz instruments with orchestra.
The Bowl's new shell turned a glowing electric blue as the Rhapsody's opening
clarinet glissando gave way to the rapid rat-a-tat of the piano solo. With Gershwin
as with Ravel, Thibaudet dazzled, musically uncompromising as his long, graceful
fingers raced across the keyboard through the rhythmic heights and plains of
repeated themes - shifting between forcefulness and lightness, but always with
unswerving precision and clarity and a marvelous sense of enjoyment. Rhapsodic!
Gershwin would have approved and Ravel would have applauded. In Thibaudet indeed
the two composers - transatlantic soulmates - meet.
Rhapsody
in Blue was preceded by Gershwiniana, an orchestral suite of Gershwin
songs (arranged by Rob Mathes at the request of Leonard Slatkin), and Lullaby,
a rarely heard early Gershwin composition that visibly delighted the audience.
The second half of the program
was a 45-minute arrangement (by Gershwin friend Robert Russel Bennett) of
the vocal highlights from Porgy and Bess. With a star-studded
cast of Broadway and TV personalities (Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell
and Wayne Brady) and the Paul Smith Singers, and with a treasure trove of
popular, beloved songs, this abbreviated concert version of Gershwin's one
and only foray into opera, was a big hit with the audience.
Gershwin
once wrote of jazz: "I believe that it can be made the basis of serious
symphonic works of lasting value, in the hands of a composer with talent for
both jazz and symphonic music." How true! At the Bowl in the summer of
2005, Leonard Slatkin and his eminent guest artists reaffirmed that Gershwin
will always be a cause for celebration.
A MESSAGE FROM JY (1999)
UK
