Gershwinicity

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce the debut recording of composer-pianist Iain Farrington's Art Deco Trio, featuring 15 new instrumental arrangements blending classical and jazz influences of songs by George Gershwin. In 2012, Farrington played piano in the London Olympic Games' opening ceremony in a comic performance of Chariots of Fire with Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean and the LSO conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. His Beethoveniana a thrilling distillation of Beethoven's nine symphonies into a sevenminute piece for 323 BBC orchestra musicians, the BBC Singers and two dancers was a highlight of the locked-down 2020 BBC Proms. Taking it's name from the defining style of the Gershwin era, the Art Deco Trio Peter Sparks, Kyle Horch and Farrington mixes elegance and clean lines with the exuberance and bold colours of it's distinctive signature. The album takes it's title from Farrington's fantasia on five Gershwin standards stamped through with infectious rhythmic energy and the most memorable of melodies. First heard in shorter form at the 2018 BBC Proms, Gershwinicity is a dazzling celebration of one the 20th century's most popular songwriters. The melody-filled material ranges from early hits such as I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise and The Man I Love to the late, lasting classics They All Laughed and Our Love is Here to Stay. Gershwin's stage masterpiece Porgy and Bess is represented by arrangements of Summertime and It Ain't Necessarily So, alongside Broadway favourites The Man I Love, I Got Rhythm and rarities Fidgety Feet, I've Got a Crush on You.