The American project / Yuja Wang and Teddy Abrams.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Pianist Yuja Wang and composer/conductor Teddy Abrams were classmates at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and had long wanted to work together. The sympathy shows in this 2023 Deutsche Grammophon release, which perhaps turned out even better than the performers had hoped. Abrams' 11-movement Piano Concerto is a standout among the jazz-flavored works that crowd American concert programs (and increasingly those beyond) every year. The work is neither simply swing jazz transferred to an orchestral medium nor a classical piece that uses jazz as a flavoring. Rather, Abrams develops the work in a unique way structurally from an opening swing-boogie core, weaving the piano into the texture (and letting it blossom in four solo cadenzas) while also broadening the language to include Latin jazz and gospel/rock rhythms. It is a fresh take, and other presenters beyond Abrams' Louisville Orchestra would do well to take a listen. However, the real triumph here is that of Wang, who shows total mastery of these vernacular American idioms. Sample the first of the four cadenzas, where this pianist sounds for all the world as though she stepped out of a piano jazz bar. The entire work is varied and hugely enjoyable, and there is also a nice solo piano curtain-raiser from the pen of Michael Tilson Thomas that approaches the jazz-classical fusion from a different direction. A fine job from all concerned; really, the only possible complaint is that the recording was inspired by a concert that also included Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and with the program clocking in at sub-42 minutes, it would have been wonderful to hear Wang essay that related piece as well. ~ James Manheim