Search - Various Artists :: Gems From Gershwin

Love gershwin BUT...

jerry Sullivan | 02/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is amazing but just so you know, there are not 26 tracks even though it lists 26 different songs...There are instead beautiful medleys of wonderful Gershwin."

The Grandaddy of Memorial Albums

jerry Sullivan | San Diego, CA USA | 01/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps the most emotional Gershwin album ever recorded, Gems From Gershwin was originally recorded as a radio show for broadcast 1 year after the composers tragic early death. The conductor, Nathanial Shilkret (himself undervalued) wove these 26 tracks into 10 medleys, covering much of the most famous Gershwin songs ever. The one ringer is a vocal treatment of Rhapsody in Blue! It's a period piece, to be sure, but there are many greater recordings of this favorite piece. I've had a copy of this set for almost 20 years, a dub from a 1954 10"LP. The current CD release sounds identical, even to referencing the tape matrix numbers, so RCA probably did not redo this set from masters (stampers) for this set. Nevermind, the music is so wonderful it's of little consequence. Jane Froman, who would later go on to her own extraordinary fame is in glorious voice, classically trained, but one of the few such singers who had the ability to sing a popular tune. She is the undeniable star on this project, projecting the meaning of the lyrics and the emotion behind them. A ledgendary recording, available on CD after too long in the vaults. Sound is excellent for 1938, but realize this is a historic recording, not of current standards. Buy it, and fall back in time."