It's interesting to hear Gershwin's concerted works juxtaposed with Ravel's two piano concertos, especially the jazz-influenced G major one. Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F emerge here in full orchestral monty, and crassly inflated to the nines. Mantovani's string section sounds as oily as, well, Mantovani's string section. And who's that schmaltzy trumpet soloist in the slow movement? Fortunately, Julius Katchen's irrepressible panache redeems the solo parts. He brings these same qualities to Britten's Diversions for piano left hand and orchestra, captured in excellent mono sonics under the composer's galvanizing baton. Both Ravel concertos feature crisp orchestral solo lick and whirling, incisive tuttis, with a piano soloist to match. I've never heard the D minor Left-hand concerto dispatched with such staggering aplomb: did Katchen sneak his right hand into the mix? If they had recorded nothing else together, Katchen and Kertész's lean, hauntingly poetic Bartok Third Concerto would serve as an apt memorial to these brilliant, tragically short-lived musicians.

--Jed Distler