{"id":44930,"date":"2024-07-08T15:24:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T13:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/36ec0efd-591b-4d94-93d2-f52d32da3db6"},"modified":"2024-07-08T15:36:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T13:36:12","slug":"rhapsody-in-blue-100-years-of-george-gershwins-jazz-classical-marvel-and-the-5-great-recordings-you-need","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/rhapsody-in-blue-100-years-of-george-gershwins-jazz-classical-marvel-and-the-5-great-recordings-you-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhapsody in Blue: 100 years of George Gershwin’s jazz-classical marvel – and the 5 great recordings you need"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Monday, 08 July 2024 at 13:24 PM<\/p>

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Lawrence Gilman, a music critic from the New York Tribune<\/i>, was clearly unimpressed by Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>. <\/strong><\/p>

\u2018How trite, feeble and conventional the tunes are,\u2019 read his pointed review that appeared on the morning of 13 February; \u2018how sentimental and vapid the harmonic treatment, under its disguise of fussy and futile counterpoint. Weep over the lifelessness of the melody and harmony, so derivative, so stale, so inexpressive.\u2019 The work, he concluded, suffered from \u2018melodic and harmonic anemia of the most pernicious kind.\u2019 <\/p>

‘Irresistible vitality’ <\/h2>

Ouch. But while Gilman may not have overly enjoyed hearing the 25-year-old composer and pianist George Gershwin<\/a><\/strong> give the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue<\/i> with Paul Whiteman\u2019s Palais Royal Orchestra, the audience most certainly did. <\/p>

\u2018There was tumultuous applause for Mr Gershwin\u2019s composition,\u2019 reported the altogether more even-handed Olin Downes in the New York Times<\/i>. \u2018There was realisation of the irresistible vitality and genuineness of much of the music heard on this occasion, as opposed to the pitiful sterility of the average production of the \u201cserious\u201d American composer.\u2019<\/p>

  • Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>\u2026What to listen to next<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
  • Six of the best versions of Gershwin’s Summertime<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul>

    Exactly what genre is Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>, anyway?<\/h2>

    That \u2018occasion\u2019 was \u2018An Experiment in Modern Music\u2019, an ambitious concert devised by Whiteman that would showcase the development of jazz<\/a><\/strong> and assess its standing as a serious artform \u2013 and, of course, show off his own band \u2013 over a lengthy programme that would culminate in Gershwin\u2019s specially commissioned new work. <\/p>

    The 1,300-seat Aeolian Hall was chosen to host the big event and, ever the publicist, Whiteman even promised in a newspaper article that a committee including violinist Jascha Heifetz, soprano Alma Gluck and Rachmaninov<\/a><\/strong>, no less, would be there to help give an answer to the question \u2018What is American music?\u2019.<\/p>