In 2018, three years earlier than his loss of life, the pianist and composer gave a live performance in Sardinia that included each Mozart and George Gershwin. A reside recording of that live performance is now out there.
TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. Pianist and composer Chick Corea’s pursuits stretched past jazz into classical music. In 2018, three years earlier than his loss of life on the age of 79, he gave a live performance in Sardinia that included each Mozart and George Gershwin. A reside recording of that live performance is now out there, and our classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has a evaluation.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICK COREA AND ORCHESTRA DA CAMERA DELLA SARDEGNA’S “MOZART PIANO CONCERTO NO. 24 IN C MINOR, Okay.491: I. ALLEGRO (LIVE)”)
LLOYD SCHWARTZ, BYLINE: Can a jazz musician play Mozart? Too many so-called crossover artists carry out classical music as in the event that they have been afraid of it. Legendary jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman performed Mozart that was stunning however bland. Barbra Streisand’s stab at “Schubert & Schumann: Lieder” sounded too timid, as if she have been choirboy as a substitute of her personal uninhibited self. However, Frank Sinatra sang Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” as slyly and seductively as he sang “The Woman Is A Tramp.”
I want all musicians, each pop and classical, dropped at classical music the rhythmic vitality and freedom of spirit that composers meant. That is what fearful me after I heard a few new posthumous recording by the elegant jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea, which incorporates his model of one in every of Mozart’s most chic and dramatic masterpieces, the “Piano Concerto No. 24 In C Minor.” This reside live performance recording additionally options two of George Gershwin’s most beloved works, “Rhapsody In Blue” and the track “Somebody To Watch Over Me.” Corea’s enjoying is impeccable, and he appears to be having a good time. He is not afraid to offer Mozart the syncopated, daring and playfulness of jazz.
(SOUNDBITE OF COREA PERFORMANCE OF MOZART’S “PIANO CONCERTO NO. 24 IN C MINOR, Okay.491: I. ALLEGRO”)
SCHWARTZ: Corea’s efficiency is a captivating hybrid. A few of its most convincing components are the easy classical stuff – not timid, with simply the form of pleasure I hope for – although a few of his non-classical impulses miss the purpose. For instance, the improvised solos he provides firstly of every motion undercut the suspense Mozart creates as to precisely when the piano goes to reach. And within the central gradual motion, Corea jazzes up Mozart’s radical and heartbreaking simplicity. Nonetheless, Corea captures a spirit that Mozart, a terrific improviser himself, may actually have appreciated. He tells the viewers that he will play principally what Mozart wrote, but additionally improvisation.
(SOUNDBITE OF COREA PERFORMANCE OF MOZART’S “PIANO CONCERTO NO. 24 IN C MINOR, Okay.491: I. ALLEGRO”)
SCHWARTZ: Corea’s Gershwin can be idiosyncratic. “Rhapsody In Blue,” just like the Mozart, is mostly a piano concerto, Gershwin’s try to carry collectively jazz and classical music. Gershwin’s rating encourages some improvisation, however Corea pushes Gershwin’s invitation to an excessive. The author of the CD’s liner notes admits that he does not actually like “Rhapsody In Blue,” so he prefers Corea’s extra improvisatory freedom. Personally, I like the way in which Gershwin conceived it, as a jazz-inspired live performance piece fairly than as a chunk of pure jazz. There’s a terrific story about how, in a rehearsal earlier than the premiere, as a substitute of enjoying the notes merely as written, the impressed clarinetist performed the opening, a rising glissando, as a wail that then turns right into a guffaw. Gershwin liked it that method and needed to maintain it. That is what it gave the impression of in 1924, virtually a century in the past, on its very first recording.
(SOUNDBITE OF GEORGE GERSHWIN’S “RHAPSODY IN BLUE”)
SCHWARTZ: This is Corea enjoying on the piano, his personal tamer model of that astonishing clarinet glissando.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICK COREA’S “RHAPSODY IN BLUE”)
SCHWARTZ: Nonetheless, when Corea improvises, the music can get fairly thrilling and is filled with surprises.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICK COREA’S “RHAPSODY IN BLUE”)
SCHWARTZ: Gershwin’s personal piano preparations of his songs give jazz musicians permission to improvise even additional. My favourite reduce on this Chick Corea album is his scintillating model of one of many nice Gershwin requirements, “Somebody To Watch Over Me.” Right here, on a rhythmic excessive wire of his personal making, he has me fully holding my breath.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICK COREA’S “SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME”)
MOSLEY: Lloyd Schwartz’s newest guide is “Who’s On First?: New And Chosen Poems.” He reviewed “Chick Corea: A Evening Of Mozart & Gershwin.” For Terry Gross, I am Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHICK COREA’S “SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME”)
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content might not be in its last type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could range. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
