Nakamatsu makes Gershwin both fiery and fluid

Ten years ago, Jon Nakamatsu won the tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He quit his job as a high school German teacher and is now an internationally renowned pianist. He's also made seven recordings, including one featuring his gold medal performance at the Cliburn Competition.

For his eighth and newest release, Nakamatsu turns his focus to George Gershwin, a great American composer with whom he has a few experiences in common.

Gershwin kept busy playing street hockey and roller-skating while growing up in the tough Lower East Side of New York City. There was hardly any music in his household until a piano arrived in 1910.

Jon Nakamatsu didn't come from a musical family either. But when he first saw a piano at age four, he immediately had an overwhelming desire to play it. Later, he came to the arts on his own by collecting records and listening to a lot of classical music on the radio. Nakamatsu devoured it all. It wasn't long before he realized that for him, music was like an appendage. When he was separated from it he felt incomplete.

Nakamatsu says he finds the magic of his instrument not just in flashy fireworks but also in its ability to create an amazing legato tone and a strong singing sound. In Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, Nakamatsu ignites a few fireworks while simultaneously working his way through a fine melodic phrase. After the percussive orchestral opening in the first movement, Nakamatsu gently rolls into the Charleston rhythms, never making them sound forced or heavy. The tempo gradually increases with an irresistible lilt that finds me swinging right along with the Rochester Philharmonic.

When he shares his own reading of a work, Nakamatsu looks for a combination of line and freedom. The only way really to be free is to operate within the rules, so he follows the framework of a piece, while offering his own heartfelt interpretation. That's evident throughout this recording but especially in the smoky introduction of the slow movement of Gershwin's concerto. Nakamatsu's witty, elegant style emerges shortly after the exquisite trumpet solo.

There are numerous outstanding soloists in the Rochester Philharmonic, including clarinetist Kenneth Grant who offers a flirtatious smear at the start of "Rhapsody in Blue." The orchestra replies with a carousing response before Nakamatsu's playful entrance. Pops conductor Jeff Tyzik loves to catch us off guard by playing with the tempo while meandering through "Rhapsody in Blue." Midway through the Rhapsody, Nakamatsu demonstrates his stunning ability to sing his way elegantly through a smooth, legato line.

"One of the important points of music is that it's so joyful," explains Nakamatsu. "It's something that you can't articulate in words. It's something that can only be felt."

Finding the joy in music is something else Jon Nakamatsu shares with George Gershwin, who once said, "Good music is good music."

There's lots of good music to enjoy on this new release featuring Jon Nakamatsu and the Rochester Philharmonic. Just turn it on, turn it up, and enjoy!

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