Ms. Lewis-Griffith was introduced to Gershwin’s
music at age twelve through a priceless gift. It
seems that a gentleman in her home town of High
Point, North Carolina, in planning a move to New
York City, did not wish to be encumbered by his
huge collection of 78 RPM classical phonograph
records. Acquainted with the child’s musical ability,
he offered them to her through her father, himself
an avid supporter of his young artist.
Like so many creative endeavors, this compact disc
and the transcriptions it includes owe their
existence not only to the artist but also to friends
and supporters. These include the late Michel
Arcizet of Etcetera Records, and well known
Gershwin biographer, the late Edward Jablonski,
both of whom urged Ms. Lewis-Griffith to record a
sequel to her 1994 Gershwin CD (George Gershwin:
a Piano Solo Album, KTC 1176). Mr. Jablonski, in fact,
gave the artist copies of unpublished manuscripts to
three Gershwin preludes (tracks 2-4) with the
expectation that they would be included.
The manuscript to Novelette in Fourths was
incomplete; however, Gershwin extended the piece
in one of his piano rolls recordings. In 1994, Ms.
Lewis-Griffith extracted the sixteen measure
extension aurally from that recording, and she has
included it in her rendition on this CD. (Since 1994,
the piece has been published in its complete form.)
Ms. Lewis-Griffith performs Melody No. 17 and
Sleepless Night exactly as they were written in those
manuscripts. They are actually variants of one
another; Gershwin’s close friend, Kay Swift,
rearranged Melody No. 17 and called it Sleepless
Night. The artist plays the two pieces without a
break as one work.

RELEASE JANUARY 2011