Conviction and Sensitivity
James Farmingdale | New York, NY USA | 01/29/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"GERSHWIN IN BLACK AND WHITE (Centaur CRC 2174) yields some fascinatingly 'inauthentic' Gershwin. Acting on his own frustration that the composer left no full-scale works for solo piano, pianist Haskell Small has made his own solo-piano 'transcription' (read: version) of the CONCERTO IN F and adapted William Daly's transcription of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. Both his versions and his performances ring with conviction and warrant the places they're sure to assume in solo pianists' repertoires. The CD includes a sensitive performance of LULLABY in Alicia Zizzo's arrangement, whose public premiere Small played at New York's Town Hall on April 10, 1992.
- Piano and Keyboard Magazine"