STEPPING OUT

A melting pot of classical, jazz, pop and rock

Manhattan Intermezzo: a New York themed-compliation is released

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When renowned classical pianist Jeffrey Biegel, of Lynbrook, thought of putting together a special collaboration, little did he know that it would take the next 20 years for his dream to come to fruition.

“The first piece that came to mind was George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” with the original 1924 piano parts,” Biegel recalled. “I’ve known that much since the late 1990s.” In 2002, Biegel said that he learned about Keith Emerson’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and in 2003 he was scheduled to perform Duke Ellington’s “New World a-Comin’,” in Geneva, Switzerland. “So now I had three pieces — but it took another five years to get the fourth.”

In 2008, Biegel met classically trained pop star Neil Sedaka at an event, introduced to him by record producer, composer, songwriter, and arranger David Foster. “Neil and I both studied at Juilliard at different times, and had the same teacher.” Biegel said. At the time, he learned that Sedaka was in the process of writing a piano concerto.

“In 2011, Mr. Sedaka’s assistant phoned and told me that the concerto was finished, and would I be interested to see the music and listen to the recording he made of it with the London Philharmonic in 2010,” Biegel said, “and I said, ‘of course!’ Upon listening, I asked Neil if I could add some notes here and there to make it more virtuosic. He agreed. It was then that I realized that I had found my fourth piece.”

Biegel sings the praises of social media in helping to move this project along. “I posted on Facebook about my vision, and received a response from Paul Phillips, conductor of the Brown University Orchestra, offering me the orchestra, the piano and the space in which to do the recording at Brown.”

And so it was recorded there in the fall of 2014 — a compilation that brings together four works for piano and orchestra by composers best known in the fields of jazz, popular song and progressive rock.
 

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