What’s the best version of Rhapsody in Blue available on CD?

As I stated in my original post, the 1971 recording is from a piano roll Gershwin cut in 1925. He was very much alive in 1925. And it doesn't sound "incomplete" without a full orchestra; it sounds like the piece Gershwin wrote, which was intended, and originally performed, with a small orchestra. Gershwin playing his own piece the way he intended it to be played cannot be improved upon.

Besides, most full orchestras and conductors perform it at too slow a tempo. It's a jazz piece, not a symphony piece.

Gershwin wrote it specifically for performance at the 1924 jazz concert "An Experiment In Modern Music" organized by Whiteman. At that time, Grofe took Gershwin's dual-piano score and, in consultation with Gershwin, arranged and scored the piece for a small jazz ensemble (Paul Whiteman's jazz band with a few added strings). It was, as I have said, a JAZZ piece, specifically commissioned and written for a JAZZ concert to be performed by a JAZZ band.

The later, slowed-down and overly lush Grofe arrangement for full symphony orchestra did not come along until 1942, 18 years after the Rhapsody was written and first performed, and 5 years after Gershwin's death. But the original piece, as written and envisioned by Gershwin, was for a jazz ensemble, commissioned specifically for a jazz performance. It was not intended for a full symphony in its original conception and incarnation. So as I have said, the version performed by Gershwin himself on the 1925 piano roll, later recorded using the ORIGINAL Grofe arrangement for jazz ensemble, is the nearest extant recorded version to the original performance from its premiere in 1924. It is the closest we can get to hearing what Gershwin himself intended, since he personally played the piano part, and he performed it in its original form. The 1942 Grofe symphonic arrangement was never even seen or heard by Gershwin and it differs in numerous respects from what Gershwin wrote and performed.

As I have repeatedly said, everyone is free to have an opinion about which version they personally prefer. But the jazz ensemble arrangement is what Gershwin intended.

I'm seeing and responding to this post kinda late, but if you're still interested in hearing the Gershwin piano roll version, please respond to this post, and I'll make it available to you. You won't regret it.