Crazy for Gershwin, Pavilion, Bournemouth

CELEBRATING one of New York’s most talented sons, the London Concert Orchestra set aside its serious persona in order to entertain a capacity audience and get into the swing with the popular compositions of George Gershwin, nearly all of which are still regularly performed worldwide.

Under the baton of Richard Balcombe the orchestra provided a rousing medley of Gershwin pop hits from the past as well as excerpts from his controversial opera Porgy and Bess and the classical Rhapsody in Blue, given a splendidly lavish performance on the solo piano by Jonathan Scott.

With a quartet of dancers who got into the mood with jive, ballroom and tap routines, old favourites like I Got Rhythm and ‘S Wonderful also got the audience tapping their feet along with the beat.

Solo operatic singers Rodney Earl Clarke and Meeta Raval presented a somewhat highbrow rendering of their songs, Miss Raval in particular bringing a shrillness to the music that might possibly get by with Wagner but is definitely out of place with jazz classics. I suspect that most of the audience would much prefer the sultry warmth of Pearl Bailey or Ella Fitzgerald any day.

But the evening belonged to the big band musicians who paid tribute to the genius of George in a melodious style that presented an appropriate homage to the man who invented modern American music nearly 100 years ago and whose legacy lives on today.

MARION COX