NEIL SEDAKA (b.1939): Manhattan Intermezzo for Piano and Orchestra (orch. Lee Holdridge [b.1944]), KEITH EMERSON (1944-2016): Piano Concerto No. 1 (co-orch. John Meyer [1930-2004]), DUKE ELLINGTON (1899-1974): New World a-Comin; (arr. and ed. Maurice Peress (b.1930]), GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937): Rhapsody in Blue (orch. Ferde Grofé [1982-1972]).

Description: Four works for piano and orchestra by composers best known from the fields of jazz, popular song and progressive rock: Sedaka's piece explores the New York of today and yesterday with its melting pot of nationalities. Emerson, best known as a founding member of Emerson Lake & Palmer, contributes a remarkably inventive semi-autobiographical concerto which fuses his classical training with jazz. Ellington's sublime New World a-Comin' is a visualisation of improved conditions for black people in America, while the rarely heard original version of Gershwin's Rhapsody represents the quintessential style of New York City in the roaring twenties. Jeffrey Biegel (piano), Brown Symphony Orchestra; Paul Phillips.