Gershwin Fantasy Joshua Bell, violin/ London Sym Orch/John Williams (Sony Classical SK 60659).

Gershwin Fantasy Joshua Bell, violin/ London Sym Orch/John Williams (Sony Classical SK 60659)

Although it may be the height of critical dorkiness to start a review by complaining about the cover art, I can't help but note that this CD features about the goofiest photography I have seen in a long, long time, with shot after shot of Joshua Bell staring moodily off-camera as though posing for a photo spread in GQ. Perhaps 12-year-old girls would be attracted to this sort of thing, but I doubt many of them are going to be browsing through the classical section of their local media megastore in the first place. Anyway, back to the recording itself, which is a nice one overall. The program is laid out in something of a sandwich arrangement, with three thin slices of piano/violin arrangements by Jascha Heifitz appearing between a couple of larger-scale arrangements for violin and orchestra (John Williams, by the way, conducts the orchestra and plays the piano). The first orchestral set features the Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra on "Porgy and Bess" by Alexander Courage, while the set that concludes the CD consists of arrangements of several Gershwin songs for violin and orchestra by William David Brohn and Jonathan Tunick, with one of the arrangements, Brohn's of "Sweet and Low-Down," integrating a piano solo from a Gershwin piano roll into the middle of the piece. Although there are times when the performances on this CD seems just a little bit too slick and refined, overall this is a most entertaining recording -- perhaps a good recording to get some 12-year-old daughters and nieces interested in orchestral music, but still satisfying both musically and sonically for their audiophile moms and dads and aunts and uncles. -- KWN