Released  September 26th, 2015

CD: £9.99 + p+p

GEORGE GERSHWIN

PIANO SELECTIONS VOLUME II – WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING

1 George White’s Scandals of 1920 (1920) (Arr. Alan Durman) 8.00

(Scandal Walk – Tum On and Tiss Me – Idle Dreams – My Lady –

On My Mind the Whole Night Long  – Scandal Walk)

Music by George Gershwin    Lyrics by Arthur Jackson

2 George White’s Scandals of 1921 (1921)  8.09

(South Sea Isles – Russian Dance – She’s Just a Baby  – Where East Meets West – Drifting Along With the Tide  – I Love You – South Sea Isles)

Music by George Gershwin    Lyrics by Arthur Jackson

3 George White’s Scandals of 1922 (1922) (Arr. Eugene Platzman)  6.56

(I Found a Four Leaf Clover – I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise  – Across the Sea  – Argentina – Cinderelatives – Where Is the Man of My Dreams – I Found a Four Leaf Clover)

Music by George Gershwin    Lyrics by B.G. DeSylva and E. Ray Goetz

4 George White’s Scandals of 1923 (1923) (Arr. Eugene Platzman) 8.36

(The Life of a Rose – Lo-La-Lo – Throw ‘Er In High – Let’s Be Lonesome Together – You and I – The Life of a Rose)

Music by George Gershwin    Lyrics by B.G. DeSylva and E. Ray Goetz

5 Treasure Girl (1928)  8.31

(I’ve Got a Crush On You – Feeling I’m Falling – Where’s the Boy? Here’s the Girl –

Oh, So Nice  – Got a Rainbow – K-R-A-Z-Y For You – I Don’t Think I’ll Fall in Love Today)

Music by George Gershwin    Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

6 Showgirl (1929) 3.30 (Do What You Do – Harlem Serenade – Lisa)

Music by George Gershwin     Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

7 Pardon My English (1932) 3.51 (Isn’t It a Pity – The Lorelei – My Cousin in Milwaukee)

Music by George Gershwin     Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

8 Let ‘Em Eat Cake (1933) 8.23                                                                                        (Tweedledee March – Union Square – Mine – Let ‘Em Eat Cake – Blue, Blue, Blue –    On and On – Mine)

Music by George Gershwin     Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

9 Porgy and Bess (1935) 14.47                                                                        (Summertime – My Man’s Gone Now – A Woman is a Sometime Thing –  I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ – It Ain’t Necessarily So – Bess You Is My Woman – There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New York)

Music by George Gershwin     Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

CD BONUS TRACK:

10 A Damsel In Distress (1938) (Arr. George L. Zalva)

7.00                                                                  (I Can’t Be Bothered Now – Things Are Looking Up – A Foggy Day – Stiff Upper Lip –  The Jolly Tar and the Milk Maid – Nice Work If You Can Get It – A Foggy Day))

Music by George Gershwin     Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Total time = 78.00

ALAN DURMAN – piano

GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937) was a genius.

Beginning with popular songs inserted into musical revues, he went on to write scores for musicals, films and full-scale concert works. He had a natural gift for melody, combined with inspired countermelodies and shifting harmonies comparable to those of Chopin, with great enthusiasm for the ‘pep’ and vitality of the  jazz age. When coupled with the outstanding lyric writing talents of his brother Ira, they wrote some of the most enduring popular songs of the twentieth century.

From 1920 to 1924, George wrote the music for five annual ‘George White’s Scandals’. These were followed by lesser-known shows like ‘Treasure Girl’ and ‘Let’Em Eat Cake’, before writing his folk opera ‘Porgy and Bess’ and moving to Hollywood to write two Fred Astaire movie scores.

In the course of researching for my book, ‘George Gershwin: An American in London’, I discovered a series of piano selections from these shows, written as  souvenirs for audience members, who were also talented pianists, to  play at home. Unfortunately, many of these shows had slender or non-existent plots, and it occurred to me that a piano selection was often the only way to obtain an idea of the music contained in these long forgotten shows. None of these selections has been recorded before.

Alan Durman c 2015

Recording Engineer: Josh Watkins for Cobnash Studio