Rush Hour Concert, CBSO Symphony Hall, Birmingham | 20th January, 2026 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David & Paul Gray
Rush Hour Concert
CBSO
Symphony Hall, Birmingham | 20th January, 2026
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David & Paul Gray
“A feast of Gershwin.”
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin – An American in Paris
The CBSO Rush Hour Concerts are an admirable initiative. Aimed at the seasoned concert goer and the newbie alike, they present digestible portions of classical music in an informal setting. Just the thing while waiting for the traffic to subside, or the trains to get a bit quieter. Presenters drawn from the ranks of the orchestra set the scene for those to whom the works being performed might be unfamiliar.
The works in question on this occasion were both by one of the original cross-over artists, George Gesrshwin, a composer who straddled the musical theatre stage and the concert platform with equal success.
In an introduction to the first item, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, solo pianist, Stewart Goodyear talked about how his first brush with the piece was on a record whose cover was illustrated with an image of New York. He explained how the work for him has always had that association.
Certainly, his reading reflected that iconic imagery. Because this piece draws on a genre that is improvisatory by nature, interpretations tend to be distinctive. Like a Vivaldi violin concerto, you know you are going to get an idiosyncratic perspective. In this case, Goodyear stressed the jazzy detail. His was a bustling reading that eschewed some of the romantic grandeur which characterise some other interpreter’s versions.
The orchestra played with vigour and style. Clarinet, Oliver Jones delivered smoky warmth of tone in in his solo opening passage. Sadly, some of the handovers between soloist and band did not flow as well as they ought.
The second piece, An American in Paris, shows Gershwin at a significantly more mature stage in his developments as a concert hall composer. The scoring is more detailed and ingenious than in Rhapsody in Blue, and gives the orchestra a much more thorough workout. And the composer throws in a lot of difficult changes of tempo and mood.
CBSO soloist delivered playing that was appropriately hot and occasionally so sexy one simply had to look away. After all, Gershwin was portraying Paris in all its many faceted detail.
There were moments of real brilliance and, where the blocks of colour landed, they did so with clarity and energy. However, the reading did not quite flow, It felt a little episodic and, sometimes, a bit confused, as though the focus was not quite tight enough.
But the over all effect was one of bustling energy and a lot of savoir faire.
Kazuki Yamada – Conductor
Stewart Goodyear - Piano