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Gershwin
Last night I attended a lecture with performances by Robert Wyatt on George Gershwin's life and work. The information about his life was fairly pedestrian, but I learned a couple of new things. The first was that his jawline was irregular because he'd been kicked by a horse. The second was that the Lullaby for Strings pre-dates "Vi's Song" in Blue Monday. The tunes are nearly identical and, for various reasons, I was under the impression that the Lullaby was the later setting.
Mr. Wyatt is not a brilliant pianist. He played the single piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue correctly, but without a great deal of variation. There are a couple of places of great warmth and poignancy in the Rhapsody and they were distinctly cool.
The bits that were best were where we heard new, for a given value of new, Gershwin music. Josefa Rosanska shared a composition teacher with George Gershwin (and they may have been an item for awhile) and she had two pieces called the Novelettes that were left to the Library of Congress upon her death. He played a few sketches from Gershwin's 1924 Composition book, one of which was clearly an inversion of one of the themes used in Rhapsody in Blue, and two of which were part of the Five Preludes (only three were published) which he performed in 1926. They were thrilling to hear, even in their somewhat unfinished states. He also introduced me to "Sleepless Night" in both its forms which is another unpublished work. Those moments were lovely.
As is so often the case when talking about Gershwin's music, no mention was made of the Second Rhapsody or the Cuban Overtures among the classical works and very little was discussed about the major transition in Gershwin's tunes that occurs when he begins to work with his brother Ira in 1924.
There were some notes about Gershwin's private life. A list of his known girlfriends, including his long-term relationship with Kay Swift, was included. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but no mention was made of the fact that, based on independent diary entries by several different people, it was a fairly open secret that Ms Swift was his domme. Other than bare mentions in a couple of biographies, no one has ever explored that dynamic and what it might mean to his music.
When we were living in London in the late 1960s, I got sick. I'm pretty sure this story dates from the chicken pox when I was 6, but it could be from the pneumonia a year later.
Mom was driving me to the doctor's office, and, being a good middle class mother, had on the local classical station. She'd ask me what instrument we were hearing at any given moment, too. The opening clarinet glissando from Rhapsody in Blue. I confidently stated that it was a clarinet and that the song was by Gershwin. Mom actually had to pull over for a few minutes because she had no idea how I would recognize the piece and know its composer. (Years later, we found her old Oscar Levant recordings. She hadn't listened to them since she was pregnant with me.)
I have always been a Gershwin girl. I can hear his style very quickly. When I first moved to Boston, I was in an amateur production of Godspell. The rehearsal pianist was warming up and I ran over to her. I said the piece sounded like Gershwin, but I was unfamiliar with it. It turned out to be Prelude I. She then played me Prelude III, and finally, Prelude II which is my favorite of them.
I gave up the piano when I realized my hands were too small to play the single piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue.
I feel like last night had many missed moments. There were sheet music pictures that should have had some commentary, including one that was definitely drawn by Gershwin himself. I'm really glad I went to the lecture, but I also wanted so much more.
Some of my favorites:
Dave Grusin's arrangement of Prelude II
Solo Piano version of Rhapsody in Blue I was unfamiliar with the performer, Jack Gibbons, before this. (If it feels fast to you, remember, Gershwin's Piano Roll version is nearly six minutes shorter.)
The Second Rhapsody by Michael Tilson Thomas and the LA Symphony
The aria "My Man's Gone Now" performed by Florence Quivar I couldn't find the version I first heard, with Wilma Shakesnider.
Mr. Wyatt is not a brilliant pianist. He played the single piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue correctly, but without a great deal of variation. There are a couple of places of great warmth and poignancy in the Rhapsody and they were distinctly cool.
The bits that were best were where we heard new, for a given value of new, Gershwin music. Josefa Rosanska shared a composition teacher with George Gershwin (and they may have been an item for awhile) and she had two pieces called the Novelettes that were left to the Library of Congress upon her death. He played a few sketches from Gershwin's 1924 Composition book, one of which was clearly an inversion of one of the themes used in Rhapsody in Blue, and two of which were part of the Five Preludes (only three were published) which he performed in 1926. They were thrilling to hear, even in their somewhat unfinished states. He also introduced me to "Sleepless Night" in both its forms which is another unpublished work. Those moments were lovely.
As is so often the case when talking about Gershwin's music, no mention was made of the Second Rhapsody or the Cuban Overtures among the classical works and very little was discussed about the major transition in Gershwin's tunes that occurs when he begins to work with his brother Ira in 1924.
There were some notes about Gershwin's private life. A list of his known girlfriends, including his long-term relationship with Kay Swift, was included. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but no mention was made of the fact that, based on independent diary entries by several different people, it was a fairly open secret that Ms Swift was his domme. Other than bare mentions in a couple of biographies, no one has ever explored that dynamic and what it might mean to his music.
When we were living in London in the late 1960s, I got sick. I'm pretty sure this story dates from the chicken pox when I was 6, but it could be from the pneumonia a year later.
Mom was driving me to the doctor's office, and, being a good middle class mother, had on the local classical station. She'd ask me what instrument we were hearing at any given moment, too. The opening clarinet glissando from Rhapsody in Blue. I confidently stated that it was a clarinet and that the song was by Gershwin. Mom actually had to pull over for a few minutes because she had no idea how I would recognize the piece and know its composer. (Years later, we found her old Oscar Levant recordings. She hadn't listened to them since she was pregnant with me.)
I have always been a Gershwin girl. I can hear his style very quickly. When I first moved to Boston, I was in an amateur production of Godspell. The rehearsal pianist was warming up and I ran over to her. I said the piece sounded like Gershwin, but I was unfamiliar with it. It turned out to be Prelude I. She then played me Prelude III, and finally, Prelude II which is my favorite of them.
I gave up the piano when I realized my hands were too small to play the single piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue.
I feel like last night had many missed moments. There were sheet music pictures that should have had some commentary, including one that was definitely drawn by Gershwin himself. I'm really glad I went to the lecture, but I also wanted so much more.
Some of my favorites:
Dave Grusin's arrangement of Prelude II
Solo Piano version of Rhapsody in Blue I was unfamiliar with the performer, Jack Gibbons, before this. (If it feels fast to you, remember, Gershwin's Piano Roll version is nearly six minutes shorter.)
The Second Rhapsody by Michael Tilson Thomas and the LA Symphony
The aria "My Man's Gone Now" performed by Florence Quivar I couldn't find the version I first heard, with Wilma Shakesnider.
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Wait, what. Pointers pls?
ETA: BTW, googling "George Gershwin Sadomasochist" turned up this.
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Hmm. I may need to check out the Gershwin collection at the Library of Congress to find the references myself.
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Holy shit, who IS this guy? Whoever he is he can't possibly be being paid enough.
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