Rachmaninoff/Gershwin Transcriptions by Earl Wild (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Rachmaninoff: Songs transcribed for the piano by Earl Wild - Dreams Op. 38 No. 5; The Little Island Op. 14 No. 2; Midsummer Nights Op. 14 No. 5; O, Cease Thy Singing Op. 4 No. 4; On the Death of a Linnet Op. 21 No. 8; Do Not Grieve Op. 14 No. 8; George Gershwin: Three Preludes; Earl Wild: Fantasy on Porgy and Bess. John Wilson, piano. AVIE Records AV2635

Sadly enough, Earl Wild (1915-2010) has become somewhat a forgotten figure among followers of classical music. Perhaps Bill Heck and I are a bit more tuned into his name than most, because for many years, Wild resided in Columbus, Ohio, where Bill and I both attended graduate school and where we both live today. In addition, we are both quite fond of his recordings of the Rachmaninoff piano concertos, which he originally made for Reader’s Digest with Jascha Horenstein conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and have subsequently been rereleased on other labels including Chandos and Chesky. Wild was a remarkable virtuoso who was skilled not only as a performer (he was the first American pianist ever to be invited by Arturo Toscanini to perform as soloist with the New York Philharmonic) but also as a transcriber, particularly of the music of Gershwin and Rachmaninoff.  Interestingly enough, accordion to Wikipedia, Wild also holds the distinctions of being both the first pianist ever to perform a recital on U.S. television (1939) and evert to stream a performance on the internet (1997). He is also the only pianist ever to have been invited to the White House to perform before six consecutive U.S. Presidents: Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. What a career! 

On this release from the American pianist John Wilson (not to be confused with the English conductor of the same name), we hear Wild's transcriptions of seven songs by Rachmaninoff, three brief preludes by Gershwin, and then Wild’s own Fantasy on Porgy and Bess. The Rachmaninoff transcriptions are elegant and expressive, richly romantic as you might expect. Wilson clearly loves this music, and that love comes through in his playing, which is clear, confident, and convincing. These are songs, imbued with melody and emotional overtones; however, they are not sappy or sentimental, but are carefully crafted pieces of serious music. The three Gershwin Preludes are in turn bouncy, moodily reflective, and finally a bit skittish. None, however, sound legitimately jazz-like or particularly inspired. At least to my ears, this is not top-drawer Gershwin. YMMV.

The needle on the old Gershwin-O-Meter bounces back up the scale with Wilson’s rendition of Wild’s take on Gershwin, however – the Fantasy on Porgy and Bess is in an entertaining romp through the familiar themes from Gershwin’s tuneful work. You can tell that Wild enjoyed putting these tunes together for the keyboard, and you can tell that Wilson enjoys playing them for us at the keyboard. In the liner notes, which are based on a conversation between Wilson and the English music broadcaster Jeremy Nicholas, Wilson recalls that it was Gershwin’s music that first lured him into classical music. He goes on say, “the first Earl Wild piece I learned was his Porgy and Bess. I just loved it. I’d played most of it since I was 19, so when I came to record it, it was in my heart. I think it’s perhaps his perhaps his best crafted transcription.” 

The liner notes, although not extensive, are heartfelt and revealing. And as we have come to expect from AVIE, the engineering is first-rate, capturing the sound of Wilson’s Steinway in fine fashion. If you are a fan of melody, this release is one that should be right up there on your audition list. 

3 Shades of Blue/Kind of Blue (Book/CD Review)

by Karl Nehring 

Kaplan, Janes. 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool. New York: Penguin Press, 2024. 

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue. So What; Freddie Freeloader; Blue in Green; All Blues; Flamenco Sketches. Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, tenor saxophone; Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, alto saxophone; Wynton Kelly, piano (Blue in Green only); Bill Evans, piano (all other tracks); Paul Chambers, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums. Columbia/Legacy CK64935

 

In a couple of recent posts I have shared some thoughts by jazz musicians concerning the influence of classical music on jazz (you can find those posts here and here). In his new book, 3 Shades of Blue, James Kaplan tells the interlocking life stories of three key figures in jazz: trumpeter Miles Davis, saxophonist John Coltrane, and pianist Bill Evans. Those with even a passing knowledge of jazz history are no doubt familiar with at least one of those three names, while those with a bit more knowledge will likely recall all three from their appearance on what today is probably the most widely known jazz album in history, Miles Davis’s landmark 1959 recording, Kind of Blue. Of course, all three musicians released other notable albums, such as Davis’s Sketches of Spain, Birth of the Cool, In a Silent Way, and Bitches Brew; Coltrane’s Crescent, Giant Steps, and A Love Supreme; and Evans’s Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Everybody Digs Bill Evans, and Conversations with Myself.

 

Those with an interest in jazz will gain an insight into the musical and biographical influences that contributed to the sound of those and other recordings by not only these three but other jazz luminaries as Kaplan weaves the three biographies into an overview of the development of different forms of jazz such as swing bebop, post-bop, cool jazz, modal jazz, harmolodics, and free jazz. But of special interest to fans of classical music might be to learn that all three of these jazz giants were influenced by classical music. For example, Kaplan writes that one piece that Miles almost became obsessed with was Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s 1957 recording of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G… Miles wanted to put wide-open space into his music the way Ravel did. He wanted to use different scales the way Khachaturian, with his love for Asian music, did… Davis told Evans that the new album he had in mind would make use of some of the Western classical themes they’d analyzed together…”

 

Evans had been classically trained, but ultimately decided that he wanted to become a jazz pianist. He moved to New York, the hub of jazz, determined to try to make the transition. As Kaplan describes his tiny apartment, “on the music stand were pieces by Chopin, Ravel, and Scriabin, as well as Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier. When he practiced he loved to play classical and then modulate into improvised jazz. The tempo turning to idiosyncratic rhythm, the harmonies close cousins to those in the European music.”  (An interesting fact not mentioned in Kaplan’s book is that at some point later in his career, Evans struck up a friendship with the legendary Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould; in fact, Evans recorded his famous overdubbed solo album Conversations with Myself using Gould’s piano.)

 

As for Coltrane, Kaplan observes that “almost everyone associated with John Coltrane took note of his voracious appetite for learning about music in general and his instrument in particular… Like Charlie Parker, he made a point of learning to play in every key; also like Parker, and like Miles, he listened broadly and deeply, not just to jazz but to the modern Europeans. ‘Trane and I,’ Jimmie Heath recalled, ‘used to go to the Philadelphia Library together and listen to Western classical music – they had the headphones, you know. We would play Stravinsky and people like that and listen to all this music we could.’”

 

There.is of course much, much more to be found in this deeply researched, engagingly written book that lays out the life stories of these three giants of jazz who combined to give us one of the great recordings of the twentieth century. If you are a fan of Kind of Blue, Kaplan’s book will give you an inside look into its creation and creators. But if you are one of the few people who have not by now given a listen to Kind of Blue, you really ought to give it a listen. It is one of those rara albums that most people – even those who profess not to like jazz – seem to be able to enjoy once they give it a listen. It has a gently swinging quality to it that soon will have you bobbing your head or tapping your tors. In fact, chances are good that you have heard some of this music before – So What and All Blues are floating out there in various arrangements all over the place. Like a great recording of a great symphony, Kind of Blue is an album that can be enjoyed over and over again – it always proves to be just as satisfying a musical an emotional experience each time. It truly is a landmark recording well worth seeking out.

Schubert: The Complete Impromptus (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Four Impromptus, D 899 - Impromptu No. 1 in C minor; Impromptu No. 2 in E flat major; Impromptu No. 3 in G flat major; Impromptu No. 4 in A flat major; Four Impromptus, D 935 - Impromptu No. 1 in F minor; Impromptu No. 2 in A flat major; Impromptu No. 3 in B flat major; Impromptu No. 4 in F minor. Gerardo Teissonniére, piano. Steinway & Sons 30220. 

The last time we encountered the American pianist Gerardo Teissonniére (b.1962), it was in his recording debut for Steinway & Sons (you can read our review here). Teissonniére, who was born in Puerto Rico and now resides in Cleveland, where he has long served on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music, certainly made a bold move in leading out with such monumental repertoire. However, he delivered a memorable performance that the label captured in audiophile-worthy sound. When I saw what Teissonniére had chosen to record for his next release, I could hardly contain my excitement, because Schubert’s piano music is right up there in the same exalted atmosphere as Beethoven’s. Once again, Teissonniére is clearly showcasing his desire to record music of the very highest quality.

 

As the American composer Evan Fein so aptly describes this music, “the elements of dance, song and storytelling permeate the entire oeuvre of the early Romantic Austrian composer Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828). They are combined and uniquely represented in each of Schubert’s eight individual yet intrinsically connected works for the piano known as the Impromptus, D 899 and D 935, two sets of four pieces each written in the last year and a half of the composer’s short life.” Teissonniére artfully projects that feeling of dance, song, and story as he weaves his way through these fascinating pieces. He plays with a sense of confidence, with a big tone – not in a loud, brash way; rather, in a confident, assured way. As it was in the Beethoven release, his Steinway is captured in sound of lifelike clarity and power (it was engineered by Daniel Shores at Sono Luminus Studios – they do great work there). Great music, great music, great sound – Great Caesar’s ghost, it’s a good one!