Music for a While: Who Cares?

Jay does, and you will too. “Who Cares?” is a Gershwin song, which Gershwin arranged for piano (alone). Jay has André Watts play this. He later has Ella Fitzgerald sing the song, accompanied by another André, Previn. In between, he talks about Gabriel Fauré, and plays him. He talks about Arcadi Volodos, than whom there is no better pianist in the world, Jay says. We hear Volodos in Bach – Bach arranged by Samuil Feinberg, an earlier Russian pianist. We hear more Bach, played by Feinberg himself. And some Callas. And some Offenbach. A wonderful menu of music, with tasty comments to go with it.

Tracks played:

Gershwin, “Who Cares?,” arranged for piano by the composer

Fauré, Violin and Piano Sonata No. 2, third movement

Bach-Feinberg, Largo from Bach’s Trio Sonata No. 5, BWV 529, for organ

Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C major, Book II, The Well-Tempered Clavier

Cherubini, “Dei tuoi figli la madre,” from Medea

Offenbach, “Galop infernal” (“Can-Can”), from Orpheus in the Underworld

Gershwin, “Who Cares?,” performed by Ella Fitzgerald, André Previn, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen