Gershwin in Paris
Gershwin had already collected fame and fortune with his musical songs. However, he kept dreaming about earning a place among his classical colleagues. His golden opportunity came in 1924/1925 when he composed his ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and ‘Piano Concerto in F’. He kept longing for more acceptance on the concert stage and, therefore, wished to take composition lessons from composers like Ravel and Strawinsky. Both turned him down, when he approached them in Paris in 1928 during his celebration. He incorporated his impressions of the hectic, but extremely trendy French capital in his work ‘An American in Paris’, in which he used four taxi horns (photo). Today we’ll play the the original version from this work.
George Gershwin: Part 2 from Piano Concerto in F
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Justin Brown.
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Maurice Ravel: Part 2 ‘Blues’ from Violin Sonata
Augustin Dumay, violin
Jean-Philippe Collard, piano
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George Gershwin: An American in Paris (original version)
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Louis Langrée
