Negative Positive
Title: Heavy and Slow
Review: Bernstein treated Gershwin with awe and reverence. These recordings were an attempt to sell Gershwin as a "really important composer." In those days that meant that all jazz influence had to be carfully filtered out. What is left are tempi so ponderous that the music becomes nearly inert. There is nothing left of the propulsive energy that is so central to the Rhapsody. If you envision Gershwin and Bruchner as soulmates, then this is the recording for you. For a recording of the Rhapsody exhudes the brash insouciance of the 1920s, consider Michael Tilson Thomas and the LA Philharmonic.
Is the review positive or negative? 