George Gershwin - Piano Concerto (1925) {Roberto Szidon}

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George Gershwin (born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the songs "Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit "Summertime"

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Piano Concerto in F major (1925)

I. Allegro (0:00)
II. Adagio - Andante con moto (13:40)
III. Allegro agitato (25:41)

Roberto Szidon, piano and the London Philharmonic conducted by Edward Downes

The manuscript score has some cuts in it and the piano part is not always written out. While working on this video I kept wondering if Gershwin improvised the not written out piano parts during the Premiere performance.

The concerto was written in 1925 on a commission from the conductor and director Walter Damrosch. Damrosch had been present at the February 12, 1924 concert arranged and conducted by Paul Whiteman at Aeolian Hall in New York City titled An Experiment in Modern Music which became famous for the premiere of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, in which the composer performed the piano solo.The day after the concert, Damrosch contacted Gershwin to commission from him a full-scale piano concerto for the New York Symphony Orchestra, closer in form to a classical concerto and orchestrated by the composer.

Because of contractual obligations for three different Broadway musicals, he was not able to begin sketching ideas until May 1925. He began the two-piano score on July 22, after returning from a trip to London, and the original drafts were entitled "New York Concerto". The first movement was written in July, the second in August, and the third in September, much of the work being done in a practice shack at the Chautauqua Institution. This had been arranged through the Australian composer and teacher Ernest Hutcheson, who offered seclusion for Gershwin at Chautauqua, where his quarters were declared off limits to everyone until 4 p.m. daily. Thanks to this, Gershwin was able to complete the full orchestration of the concerto on November 10, 1925. Later that month, Gershwin hired a 55-piece orchestra, at his own expense, to run through his first draft at the Globe Theatre. Damrosch attended and gave advice to Gershwin, who made a few cuts and revisions.

According to a newspaper reporter in attendance, the pipe "wandered in and out of his mouth all through the rehearsal. In particular, he used it to point accusingly at members of the orchestra who were not solving their jazz problems successfully."

The Concerto in F shows considerable development in Gershwin's compositional technique, particularly because he orchestrated the entire work himself, unlike the Rhapsody in Blue which was scored by Ferde Grofé, Paul Whiteman's section pianist and principal orchestrator. The English composer and orchestrator William Walton commented that he adored Gershwin's orchestration of the concerto. The work calls for 2 flutes plus piccolo, 2 oboes and English Horn, 2 B flat clarinets plus B flat bass clarinet (this trio being featured as the backing to the solo trumpet in the middle movement), 2 bassoons, 4 Horns in F, 3 B-flat trumpets, 3 trombones and a tuba, 3 timpani - 32", 29" and 26" (one player), 3 percussionists (first player: bass drum, bells, xylophone and triangle; second player: snare drum periodically muffled and with regular and brush sticks, wood block, whip; third player: crash cymbals, suspended cymbal with sticks, triangle and gong), solo piano and strings.

Arnold Schoenberg praised Gershwin's concerto in a posthumous tribute in 1938:

Gershwin is an artist and a composer – he expressed musical ideas, and they were new, as is the way he expressed them. … An artist is to me like an apple tree. When the time comes, whether it wants to or not it bursts into bloom and starts to produce apples. … Serious or not, he is a composer, that is, a man who lives in music and expresses everything, serious or not, sound or superficial, by means of music, because it is his native language. … What he has done with rhythm, harmony and melody is not merely style. It is fundamentally different from the mannerism of many a serious composer [who writes] a superficial union of devices applied to a minimum of ideas. … The impression is of an improvisation with all the merits and shortcomings appertaining to this kind of production. … He only feels he has something to say and he says it.
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One of the best, if not the best concerto ever composed.

Dylonely_
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Wow, he cut A LOT out of this

I need to hear an uncut version ASAP!!!

stackedactor
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Lebhafte und wunderschöne Interpretation dieses jazzigen doch perfekt komponierten Konzerts mit klar artikuliertem doch elegantem Klang des technisch fehlerlosen Soloklaviers sowie gut vereinigten und perfekt entsprechenden Tönen der anderen Instrumente. Der zweite Satz klingt besonders schön und echt bezaubernd. Im Kontrast klingt der dritte Satz echt lebhaft und auch beweglich. Der intelligente und erfahrene Dirigent leitet das ausgezeichnete Orchester im veränderlichen Tempo und mit künstlerisch kontrollierter Dynamik. Wahrlich faszinierend!

notaire
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Thank you for posting! The second theme in E Major at 7:16 is one the most beautiful melodies that Gershwin or anyone else has composed! And it only occurs just this once in the concerto!

pnocella
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One of my all-time favorites, alongwith from Acapulco!

steveegallo
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Thank you for this magnificent performance of Gershwin's marvelous piano concerto !

fransmeersman
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Inconfundible Gershwin... Gracias!! Impecable como siempre.

olgamariabollati
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Bravo! Very interesting to look at the original score. And a good performance too.

larsjohansson
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What a superlative (if it is not the best) perfomance - soloist and musicians! Always a Szidon's fan. Thank you so much for the upload.

pautabrasileira
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Fascinating to see the considerable differences between the manuscript and what was published. Thanks

pauljackson
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The LPO is another world-famous orchestra!

danielalmquist
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One of my favourite Gershwin compositions, the first time I heard it was on a recording played by Earl Wild , I not sure of t Conductor, but the Orchestra was the Boston Pops ❤

williamfraser
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Are those rehearsal markings, or original stencils made by Gershwin? Fascinating piece and interesting score, unique upload. Thank you!

davemiller
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I love the Ravel concerto - the slow m'vt is beyond sublime- I love this because it sounds like New York TY

Jimyblues