BY CHRIS VARIAS
Enquirer contributor
The weather was sweltering, but the music was s'wonderful.
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra paid tribute to George Gershwin amidmuggy conditions Friday night at Riverbend.
The program, "George Gershwin Centennial Celebration," was what it says, a musical tribute to the man Pops conductor Erich Kunzel called "America's greatest composer, born Jacob Gershvin in Brooklyn on Sept. 26, 1898." (The show repeats at 8:30 p.m. today.) It's no wonder Mr. Kunzel holds Mr. Gershwin, who died at age 37 from a brain tumor, in such high regard.
Mr. Gershwin did what Mr. Kunzel does: combined pop-music thinking with classical elements. Mr. Gershwin's compositions are some of the great examples of the mixing of classical and pop forms, as the crowd of 3,150 could attest to after a rendition of Rhapsody in Blue that was both calming and stirring.
Rhapsody in Blue was made for the piano, so any good pianist sounds great playing it. Mr. Kunzel introduced "Cincinnati's own" Michael Chertok with great praise, which the piano player lived up to.
Mr. Chertok's skill truly shone during several variations on "I Got Rhythm,' during which signatures rapidly switched, and he remained on top of the game.
The evening began with the tone poem from An American in Paris, which Mr. Kunzel said was inspired by Mr. Gershwin's stay in the city. Mr. Kunzel explained what it was like in Paris for the young music man: "Imagine dodging traffic, looking up at the Eiffel Tower, falling for a young girl." The Pops' whirlwind dynamics help the listener imagine.
The best part of An American in Paris was the dancing of Middletown's Barbara and Timothy Haller and Dayton's Melissa and Jim Bennett. Both couples danced at a torrid pace, doubly impressive given the hot conditions. The Maestro said it best: "Lordy, lordy, it makes ya hot just looking at 'em!"
A nice surprise came just before the intermission. Usually the Pops doesn't stray from the program, but a song was added, "Rialto Ripples," that wasn't listed with the other selections of the night. The ragtime tune came from Mr. Gershwin's days as a Tin Pan Alley composer and was his first to get published.
Following the intermission, Angela Brown and Reginald Pindell were impressive as Bess and Porgy.
