George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (1/2)

Born the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants into the vibrant life of Manhattan, George Gershwin created much of the twentieth century's musical highlights, with an endless stream of hit shows. His fascination with classical music, and his fusion of many varied musical forms like jazz, blues and ragtime, brought us the likes of Porgy and Bess and Rhapsody in Blue.

Rhapsody in Blue -: (running time : 16:57)
Courtesy goes to Richard Hayman and Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
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It was in 1924 that Gershwin responded to a commission from Paul Whiteman, a champion of symphonic jazz, for a concerto for piano and jazz band. The result miss Rhapsody in Blue, a significant step in a search for a true American musical identity. The work was orchestrated by Whiteman' s arranger, the composer Ferde Grofé. Whiteman himself had enjoyed on earlier career as a viola-player in major American orchestras in Denver and San Francisco, before becoming one of the best known of the band-leaders of the time. Gershwin's jazz concerto was given its first performance at Whiteman's first concert, given at the Aeolian Hall in New York, where it won success in surroundings that seemed distinctly unfavourable, as Whiteman attempted to convince an unsympathetic audience of the viability of his form of jazz. With due acknowledgement to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, Rhapsody in Blue remains, nevertheless, thoroughly American in its melodies and rhythms and enjoys continued popularity in the concert hall, recalling the Golden Age of jazz, to which it made its own distinctive contribution. It might be added that the familiar opening clarinet glissando owes its origin to Whiteman's clarinettist Ross Gorman, replacing Gershwin's original chromatic scale.

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Music

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[mauirascal]

This song is number one on my "bucket list"...I am 83 and I play by ear and my goal is to play Rhapsody in Blue on the Roland AT900. I will do it!

[Whitchfinder1]

Love this version - probably my favourite orchestration. The horns at 11:30 are just beautiful.

[GhettoKarter1992]

Amazing!!!

I listened to that earlier around 6:30-ish on 89.9 FM on Charlotte

[OceanMystery8]

@Kiya4ever ME TOO!!! :))

[Kiya4ever]

I love this so much. With a passion. And to have it play on Glee, even just the beginning of this wonderful song was amazing. 

[Sybertronic7]

Just amazing....Gershwin if you can here me wherever you are; Thank you for what you have brought to the music world! YOU ARE AMAZING! I hope I can meet you when I'm dead...

[mauirascal]

@DarkChild91 Thanks D for the encouragement...I have been doing a lot of practice on "Night and Day" and will be playing it this Saturday in a competition...wish me luck!

[DarkChild91]

@mauirascal What a great goal:D