Although the silly front cover image to Élan's Piano in Hollywood: The Classic Movie Concertos may deceive some into believing this
Santiago Rodriguez effort for Élan as ephemeral as the popcorn he is tossing into the air, this is certainly one of Cuban pianist
Rodriguez's finest and most consequential issues. In the 1940s, it became sort of a fad for an especially composed piano concerto to appear in a dramatic motion picture, based on the success of the so-called Warsaw Concerto of English composer Richard Addinsell in the film Dangerous Moonlight (aka, Suicide Squadron). Ably supported by an extraordinarily proficient and professional regional American orchestra, the Fairfax (Virginia) Symphony under William Hudson,
Rodriguez performs this concerto practically along all of the other ones in this uniquely movie-engendered genre; about the only work missing is the Hangover Square Concerto composed by
Bernard Herrmann for the film of that name. The disc includes such rarities as the piano concertos of Edward Ward and Leith Stevens; all being single-movement works used to cover a purely visual montage or concert sequence; Ward's was for the Claude Rains version of The Phantom of the Opera. The work identified as
George Gershwin's New York Rhapsody is more familiarly known as his Second Rhapsody; as this is the version made for the film Delicious (1931), the text of the piece is different from the standard and runs about five minutes shorter than the concert work.
The program to Piano in Hollywood is a good idea and could have been something
John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra considered during their tenure with Philips; however, what makes this disc so extraordinary is the quality of the performances.
Rodriguez -- normally a showy performer with a pronounced romantic streak -- takes to this stuff like a fish to water and pulls out all the stops. Hudson, who served as the Fairfax Symphony's director from 1971 until his enforced retirement at the end of the 2007-2008 season, keeps the sound of the orchestra lush and ladles on the cream. One wouldn't expect a regional orchestra to sound like this at all; it could just about pass for the Hollywood Bowl Symphony itself.
It is so rare for a small classical label like Élan to get all of these ducks in a row; excellent recording, performance, and a useful program of related -- and some rare -- material in an important part of the literature, yet still appealing to popular taste to an extent. The front cover, though, gives one the impression that the contents inside are musically frivolous, which they are not. Perhaps someday Élan will find a front cover that suits Piano in Hollywood: The Classic Movie Concertos, but in the meantime this should not dissuade film score buffs and fans of romantic piano concertos to give this one a test drive.