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Rhapsody
in Blue, George Gershwin,
master songwriter "crossed over" from popular song to
serious music. It was originally scored for a jazz band, but it
is the full symphonic scoring that has been played most often through
the years. |
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It is the kind of music that invites variations, adaptations and
improvisations, and Gershwin - wizard improviser and transposer
- would not have disapproved. Surely he would have looked kindly
at such latter-day adaptations as Katia
and Marielle Labeque's
version for two pianos and
Marcus Roberts'
Portraits in Blue -
in performance with the Lincoln
Center Jazz Orchestra and
the Orchestra
of St. Luke's.
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Gershwin
did not have any elitist hang-ups. He reveled in being both a writer
of popular song and a composer of serious music. He continued to
write memorable tunes even as he was composing his serious works
- comfortably "crossing over" from pop to classic and
vice versa. In his 39 short years he wrote over 550 songs, many
of them hits. And many of them favorites of today's most renowned
classical artists - tunes they love to sing or play when they're
in their best "crossover" mood.
In the recording shown above, soprano
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sings memorable Gershwin
songs in the orchestrations that Gershwin himself heard.
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And who would begrudge
Jean-Pierre Rampal's delight at his discovery
of suitable transcriptions for flute: "At
last I could share in the talent and humanity of George Gershwin."
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Or
if you want to hear Gershwin played on Gershwin's favorite
musical instrument - minus orchestra - jazz pianist
Earl
Hines is a
superb way to go. Gershwin himself was wowed by Hines'
playing of
Rhapsody in Blue without
accompaniment. Hines
has never since
played a concert without a Gershwin piece. |
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And lest you think that Gershwin has not enthralled
today's pop singers...let the exhilarating
Maureen McGovern
take you on a different beat OR sit back and get pleasantly
lost in Michael
Feinstein's soothing
renditions of Pure
Gershwin.
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UK
