It’s easy to feel sympathy for artists today, trying to justify new recordings of repertoire chestnuts by finding ways to claim that they are somehow unique or different. The reality, I never tire of saying, is that greatness provides its own justification. Short of that, nothing else really matters, especially when the alleged “differences” that make the versions in question special aren’t musically all that significant.
Take An American in Paris. Conductor Steven Richman supposedly uses Gershwin’s original saxophone parts in the central blues episode. It doesn’t matter, particularly when he phrases the dance tune that follows so stiffly. The notes claim that Richman’s timing, a couple of seconds under 17 minutes, is authentically swift. Maybe it is, but then performers as distinct as Toscanini, Fiedler, and Maazel match him, and all play the piece with greater gusto and pizzazz. Besides, in a work as episodic as this overall timings say very little; what matters more is what happens within each section.
The Concerto in F also is problematic. Lincoln Mayorga is a first class Gershwin pianist; he has recorded this work before, and much else besides. His flowing feeling for rhythm and organic rubato suit the work very well indeed. But Richman’s accompaniments are so soft-edged that his tempos, especially in the finale, all seem to drag, even when they aren’t truly slow. Compare that last movement to Wild/Fiedler, or Entremont/Ormandy, and you’ll immediately hear what’s missing.
Perhaps some of the problem lies with the engineering. Certainly this compelling, contemporary arrangement of the Three Preludes and the radio version of the Overture to Of Thee I Sing have greater presence and focus. Richman and Mayorga’s previous Gershwin and Gershwin-era discs for Harmonia Mundi were excellent. This one is just plain flabby.