For a programme centred on George Gershwin, the references in Lizzie Ball and James Pearson’s concert at the Cavendish Hall were wide and impressive. Fritz Kreisler, Leonard Bernstein, Astor Piazzolla, Aaron Copland, Maurice Ravel, Stephane Grappelli, Sergei Rachmaninoff and a few others were incorporated in a sparkling performance which brought a packed audience to its feet at its climax.
The concert was entitled “Encounters with Gershwin” and, alongside the great man’s music, featured pieces from others who knew him and/or were influenced by him. After a dramatic South American start courtesy of Piazzolla, the duo moved on to Gershwin’s After You’ve Gone, with Lizzie seamlessly standing in for Stephane Grappelli, who recorded it on a tribute album to Gershwin.
The next piece by Kreisler, a classical violinist who was a friend of Gershwin’s, was followed by James’s solo performance of Summertime in the style of Ravel. This, he said, was in response to a challenge. If so, he certainly rose to it. In its way, it typified what the concert was about – the mingling of classical and popular music. Lizzie remarked around this point that James was the only pianist she knew who was able to play all the pieces on the programme.
More music from Porgy and Bess followed and then a Gershwin medley with I Got Rhythm, Lizzie singing Embraceable You and ending with a nod to Rhapsody in Blue. How do you follow that? With Copland’s El Salon Mexico of course, written for a full orchestra, but arranged by James for violin and piano. Lizzie’s violin particularly captured the vitality of the piece.
James’s solo rendition of Kreisler’s Liebeslied, arranged by Rachmaninoff and performed from memory, drew much applause before the duo moved on to some songs from Hollywood’s golden age, with Lizzie stepping in for Ella Fitzgerald on The Man I Love.
How to end such a concert? No problem. James had arranged a version of the whole of West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein (heavily influenced by Gershwin) condensed into a few minutes. The duo delivered those famous songs with panache before taking a standing ovation.
An encore was unavoidable and it was Kreisler’s arrangement of The Londonderry Air, better known as Danny Boy, which sent everyone home with a tear in their eye.