January 21–28, 1999

disc quicks

London Symphony Orchestra

John Williams, conductor; Joshua Bell, violin

Gershwin Fantasy

(Sony Classical)

This is Gershwin with a big dollop of schmaltz, as if it needs it. Actually, the arrangement for orchestra and solo violin of most of the big tunes from Porgy and Bess works just fine, since it follows the orchestral score closely. But the arrangement of seven well-known songs for orchestra and violin is so over the top it's silly. The London Symphony Orchestra sounds like the Jackie Gleason Orchestra here. The saving grace of this album is the incredibly dignified and agile playing of young Joshua Bell, a peaches-and-cream fiddler who seems the antithesis of his notorious comrades, spike-haired Kennedy and Nadia in the bright red dress. He plays the famous Heifetz arrangement of the piano Preludes (accompanied by John Williams at the piano) with more idiomatic ease and playfulness than even the great Russian himself, as one might expect from a young American playing the eternally youthful music of one of America's greatest composers.

-Peter Burwasser