Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue & Piano Concerto in F

“The performance of the Concerto is the finest I have ever heard...while all parties are alive to the smallest detail, there is an irreverance and spontaneity which capture the spirit of the work like no other...Rhapsody in Blue opens the disc. It's a cracking account that inhabits the same world as the Concerto...Here again, Bollani's exuberance and panache are infectious.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2011

Gramophone Magazine
Disc of the Month - May 2011

“[Bollani] decorates Gershwin's lines with inner voices and liberally applied re-harmonisations, playing with a jazzman's rhythmic push-pull. His Concerto in F is more literal to Gershwin's text; Chailly paints broad, meticulous brushstrokes...[The Concerto] is as fine as any in the catalogue.” -- Classic FM Magazine, June 2011 *****

“[Bollani] treats most of the solo part with unexpected respect, and even un-swung rhythms. But he occasionally loosens up the text with exaggerated rubato and octave shifts...[His] clear, crisp pianism is heard to more convincing effect...in a fine, absolutely straight account of the Concerto in F. And Riccardo Chailly brings off an assured and lively performance of Gershwin's own, little-heard suite from Porgy and Bess, Catfish Row.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 ***

“This is one of the best versions [of the Concerto] I know...Bollani and Chailly reject any suggestion of heavy-breathing sentimentality in the second movement's climax and yet the music is no less effective...Chailly is sensitive and even affectionate: it is fun to hear the musicians of the Gewandhausorchester...so obviously enjoying themselves. What would Furtwängler have thought?” --International Record Review, May 2011