Ravel Piano Concerto, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, P.Lasser : Dinnerstein(P)K.Jarvi / MDR Symphony Orchestra

On her 2015 album, pianist Simone Dinnerstein celebrates the time-honored transatlantic link between France and America through three different composers - Maurice Ravel, George Gershwin and Philip Lasser. The title Broadway-Lafayette alludes to the French-American connection as the Marquis de Lafayette and his French troops helped the American colonists out the British during the American Revolution. Dinnerstein performs quintessential American composer Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' which she feels is particularly present in Ravel's piano concerto masterpiece, 'Piano Concerto in G Major', written in 1929, the year after Ravel met Gershwin while on tour in the U.S. Philip Lasser is the son of a French mother and an American father whose musical voice is an amalgam of both worlds. Lasser's piece on the album, 'Circle and the Child', was written for Dinnerstein and this is it's world premiere recording.