An American in Paris is the ultimate traveller's hymn. Or the tourist's, if you like. A good traveller, who is worth the name, always lets him/herself be engulfed by the atmosphere of the place they are visiting. By the images and sounds, the objects, the people, the happenings. By what they see and what they imagine or re-create. Because the act of registering what's actually there is greatly enriched if there is also some knowledge of the site's past and the cultural process leading to its present. All this combined with a certain beam of blue, a small dose of "homesickness". A longing for your own home, discreetly added to the cocktail, as in the course of Gershwin's composition.
Today it is not possible to pronounce the words "George Gershwin" without invoking a splendid body of music pieces, dance songs, old recordings, classic movies, A rich universe, a rare combination of the popular and the sophisticated. in which An American in Paris stands out. If the New York composer was fascinated by what he saw in his visit to 1920s Paris, then Gustavo Dudamel is here, in this 2011 rendition, equally (and visibly) thrilled by his visit to Gershwin.
Dudamel's sparking enthusiasm conducting this legendary piece probably matches that of Gershwin himself creating it.
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