Album: David Greilsammer, Tansman/Boulanger/Gershwin (Naïve)

This intriguing album offers a fascinating insight into the relationship between George Gershwin and two of his less well-known European contemporaries, Nadia Boulanger and Alexandre Tansman.

The latter's Piano Concerto No 2, from 1927, is little short of a lost masterpiece of elegant, urbane Modernism. Following a performance of it, Tansman was accosted in his dressing-room by Gershwin, excitedly acclaiming him "a genius!", and no wonder: the echoes of his own "Rhapsody in Blue" (1924) are all too evident in this close context, while Boulanger's "Fantaisie pour Piano et Orchestre" from 1912 offers a significant seed for both men's subsequent achievements.

DOWNLOAD THIS Piano Concerto No 2; Fantaisie pour Piano et Orchestre; Rhapsody in Blue