Rhapsody in Blue

[bungeejumper]

We've been enjoying the BBC's 2018 prog about the creation of Gershwin's great break into the classical big time, and how it was achieved. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b ... e-gershwin

Fascinating to reflect that the whole thing was essentially run up in a couple of weeks, and that Gershwin had been planning something rather less ambitious until the concert promoter bigged it up on the playbill. And that Stravinsky, Souza and assorted other greats were at the premiere. At which Gershwin ad-libbed much of the piano part because he hadn't really finished it yet.

A nicely balanced documentary, informative in so many ways. In fact the only salient point that it really missed was that Gershwin's Jewish background was crucial to his empathy toward black American music in the 1920s. Few other ethnic groups had had such personal experience of what it felt like to be a discriminated-against minority. As was also the case much later, when Jewish producers "broke" the blues to a wider American public. But hey, that's another story.

Good stuff, anyway. The prog ends in a full performance of the work. Enjoy.

BJ

[stevensfo]

We've been enjoying the BBC's 2018 prog about the creation of Gershwin's great break into the classical big time, and how it was achieved. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b ... e-gershwin

Fascinating to reflect that the whole thing was essentially run up in a couple of weeks, and that Gershwin had been planning something rather less ambitious until the concert promoter bigged it up on the playbill. And that Stravinsky, Souza and assorted other greats were at the premiere. At which Gershwin ad-libbed much of the piano part because he hadn't really finished it yet.

A nicely balanced documentary, informative in so many ways. In fact the only salient point that it really missed was that Gershwin's Jewish background was crucial to his empathy toward black American music in the 1920s. Few other ethnic groups had had such personal experience of what it felt like to be a discriminated-against minority. As was also the case much later, when Jewish producers "broke" the blues to a wider American public. But hey, that's another story.

Good stuff, anyway. The prog ends in a full performance of the work. Enjoy.

BJ

One of my favourite pieces and one I'd want on the desert island.

As an amateur clarinettist, I soon learned that every clarinet player wanted to learn how to do those first few seconds. To achieve a smooth glissando up all those notes requires a combination of fingering, breath control and bending the reed with the lower lip. My attempts sounded like a cat getting ready for a fight to the death!

Add-libbing is the whole point of jazz, but I doubt whether modern pianists would be brave enough to try to improve on what is a masterpiece.

Steve

[Hallucigenia]

Saw it first time round, I've always had a soft spot for RiB partly because I love a bit of full-on brass, but also generally I'm a sucker for all that jazz-influenced orchestral stuff.

One of my favourite recordings is the 1987 Andrew Litton with the RPO, which is unusual as they do the jazz band version arranged for orchestra - I find the normal orchestral version a bit ponderous and over-complicating in the wrong places.