Lucas Debargue is one of those multifaceted pianists who’ve played and heard enough jazz for it to be neatly assimilated into their playing of the classical repertoire. The music of Gershwin, then, seems like a perfectly natural fit. 

Disc one of this two-disc release is a confident but relatively conventional Gershwin recital – you’ve got the Three Preludes (tick), the Rhapsody in Blue, albeit in solo piano form (tick), and the Concerto in F (tick). Debargue performs them terrifically well and with enough twists and ornaments to keep you interested, although for my money my favourite Gershwin performances are still Simon Tedeschi’s, which are impossibly light and refined.

Disc two is where things really spark up. Debargue, it turns out, is also a gifted composer, and here he’s recorded his own 12 Etudes on Gershwin Songs, dedicated to the jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. These are highly virtuosic works, clearly designed for the concert stage, and for an audience to catch some of the references. For instance, there’s the etude on Fascinating Rhythm, which begins as a hybrid of the tune and Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 before mutating into a high-speed waltz. Similarly, there’s a Renaissance-ey Pavane and Galliard on Someone to Watch Over Me, so you really get the sense that Debargue is genuinely enjoying tinkering with these works. As you might guess, he plays his own works with absolute ease, dashing off light-speed runs without any apparent difficulty.

An interesting release, and one that keeps the listener guessing throughout!

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Title: Gershwin Variations
Works: Rhapsody in Blue, Piano Concerto in F, 12 Etudes on Gershwin Songs
Performers: Lucas Debargue p, Orchestre de Paris/Elim Chan
Label: Sony 19958404642