Gershwin & Wild

Chronique

Earl Wild applied the Romantic virtuoso pianism of Liszt and his successors to the music of George Gershwin, something that no one else has really done and of which, one suspects, Gershwin himself would have approved: the Gershwin Songbook of 1932 is not so far in its treatment of melody from the Wild "virtuoso etudes" heard here. But Gershwin did not approach the sheer technical feats Wild demands from his interpreters (and from himself, for he was a true composer-pianist). A new recording of any works of the underappreciated Wild is welcome, and from American pianist Joanne Polk you get much more than the minimum. For sheer power you might pick the recording of Wild's music by Xiayin Wang, but Polk has advantages as well. First there is an easy familiarity with the jazz idiom that Wild exploits: sample The Man I Love, where real rhythmic flexibility shines through all the fireworks. Second is the presence of an original Wild work, the Sonata 2000, with a final toccata inspired by Ricky Martin. His music has not proven to be as lasting as that of Gershwin, but there are fireworks galore here, and has not appeared on disc since the original recording by the octogenarian Wild himself. Finally, there is the consistently strong sound of the Steinway & Sons label, working at the performing arts center of Purchase College in the State University of New York system. Recommended.

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