Gershwin at the Phil

We were well entertained at the Liverpool Phil tonight.
Clark Rundell introduced an evening of Gershwin music. David was disappointed when he saw the orchestra, he was expecting Jazz, but as soon as the first chord from Strike up the band, he said "I didn't expect that" It was very good.  After two pieces they were joined by the pianist Stefano Bollani, who then rounded the first half off with some improvisations.
The piano had a mellow tone, and the first two solos were quite mellow. The last two had a brighter melody in the right hand with the left hand accompanying. He played a joke at the end, as we saw some of the humour we saw more of later.
After the break there was music from Porgy & Bess, which was great. There were some familiar tunes, and some beautiful lush sounds in places, and some faster parts. There were some false endings, big grand moments that seemed like a finale but were not.
Then came Rhapsody in Blue, played with improvisations, as it was by Gershwin.  It is a truly great piece, with dramatic variations of pace and volume.  How the orchestra coped with the variations of timing was amazing.  A few of us were on our feet with applause at the end.
They played an encore, piano and orchestra, and Stefano was following a score. I am not sure that he was playing from the score at all, but it all part of the entertainment. He kept playing as the orchestra walked off, and proceeded to entertain us with a variety of tunes, including a Beatles number