The recording followed a concert in London (the capital’s only official celebration in the centenary year of Gershwin’s birth) organised by the composer’s formidable sister, Frances – 96 at the time – who invited Serebrier to conduct An American in Paris, the Concerto in F (with Godowsky as soloist), and, in specially commissioned orchestrations by Serebrier, the Three Preludes and Lullaby – both of which are issued on disc for the first time here. The programme shows Gershwin at his inimitable, era-defining best. Composed as an extended ballet sequence for the 1951 MGM musical starring Gene Kelly, An American in Paris is a buoyant, Technicolor-bright tribute to the French capital shot through with jazz-accented vitality.