BBC Music Magazine - Top Recommendations  - August 2000

“This disc deserves a place on the shelves of every serious collector. These two cycles of Gershwin arrangements contain some of Finnissy’s best and most thought-provoking music played by one of his greatest advocates. The emotions in Finnissy’s arrangements are often as complex as the music is intricate, at one moment poignant, disturbing at the next, but always utterly compelling. Strongly recommended.” 

“The exercise is not only valid but musically stimulating. Pace is clearly so conversant with this music as to be a constituent part of it, while the deliberately dated piano sound and recording style is perfectly suited to this strange yet compelling music. This disc is unique and remarkable.”

Roger Thomas

“As an arranger Finnissy is radical - as we should know from his own music. So the stage is set on this CD for something special. Everything is beautifully played too.”

”Ian Pace proves to be a heroic interpreter of Finnissy’s Gershwin transcriptions - a tough, sometimes baffling listen, but an extraordinary achievement.”

“It’s impossible to do justice to the range of this remarkable music in a short review. Ian Pace has forthright views on these pieces and is an ideally characterful interpreter.”
 

“These versions are useful concert items at the very least. But they have other dimensions, musical and sociological, as Pace’s booklet essay explains. Using a Fazioli piano to re-create an "old-fashioned" sound, he plays them thoughtfully and beautifully.”

Paul Driver

“Fascinating, and certainly among Finnissy’s most individual and enduring creations.”

"Michael Finnissy has restored the art of the piano transcription, and his versions of Gershwin standards have become the most frequently performed of all his voluminous piano output. Ian Pace’s playing is faithful and technically exemplary”