VERNON DUKE (1903-1969): Piano Concerto (orch. Dunn), Cello Concerto, Homage to Boston for Piano.

Description: Conceived as early as 1918 before emigration to the U.S., completed in 1923 after a request for a piano concerto from Artur Rubinstein but never orchestrated, Duke's one-movement, 18-minute work was orchestrated by the pianist here in 1998 and given its premiere at the Gershwin Centenary at Carnegie Hall the following year. Rubinstein asked for something "pianistically grateful and not too cerebral" which is what we have here in a style owing much to Prokofiev and Gershwin. Commissioned by Koussevitzky and Piatigorsky, the cello concerto of 1945 is a large-scale, overtly Romantic work in the expected three-movement form. Scott Dunn (piano), Sam Magill (cello), Russian Philharmonic Orchestra; Dmitry Yablonsky.