On a troubling note, Gershwin's original orchestration of the work was replaced - 14 years after his death - by his publishers in favour of a "tamer" version by re-orchestrated version by Robert McBride. It wasn't until 1984 that the original, more inventive original version was heard. For that recording, Michael Tilson Thomas went on a hunt for the original manuscript. As of 2020, the non-Gershwin re-orchestration is the only published version available. We're fortunate Gershwin left us this valuable account of what he was like as a performer/composer/conductor.
No less than James Morris, according to a 3x5 card in a CD Meistersinger box from my Mom who left us 90 years young last Summer, Meistersinger was the greatest of all operas.
He wrote the piano part, but his playing sounds relaxed and easy, seems almost extemporaneous. Very gratifying for me to hear that. I've never heard an actual recording of him before. Thank you!
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1937 for Toscanini, but this was the "second" NBC Orchestra. In 1927 the New York Symphony Orchestra,conducted by Walter Damrosch, merged with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, at that time conducted ,I believe, by Arthur Bodansky. Both orchestras had recorded for Columbia Records. The 1905 recording of selections from Carmen by the Damrosch Orchestra is probably the earliest recording by a major American symphony orchestra. Walter Damrosch was a major musical pioneer and proponent of modern American music.A friend of Gershwin, he conducted the first performance of that composers' Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [1928}. That same year, Damrosch joined NBC and formed the "first" NBC Symphony Orchestra, and actually made several recordings in 1930 for RCA Victor, An NBC affiliate. The "first" NBC Orchestra recorded under the name "The National Symphony Orchestra".Damrosch conducted this Orchestra on his popular Music Appreciation Hour -over NBC - throughout the 1930's. Perhaps it is this orchestra that was used for the Gershwin rehearsal recording.
i like this version better than the "revised edited versions" (which was the only version I had heard) ----but even this original version(which has some great stuff in it, don't get me wrong) has a manic quality that makes it not nearly as fun to listen to as the 1st Rhapsody(which is perfect) The main theme is simply grating on the nerves after awhile with its insistence on those straight 8th notes. BUT---- I can see how Gershwin would be proud of this piece, as there's some really advanced harmony in this and some very clever use of rhythms. But, in my opinion, musically, it doesn't hit the heart the way the first one did. i am glad he wrote it tho, and of course, i will always be a fan of this guys music.
Gershwin was often obliged ( for by nature he was very obliging) to cut out passages from his larger works, but this was to the detriment of his work. I think his first inspirations were always his best. Take this 2nd Rhapsody, for instance. There is much here that is cut from the published version. "Porgy & Bess" is the most signal example, as it has been drastically cut often since its New York premiere in 1935. The recent Met performance ignominiously cuts so much inspired Gershwin out (thanks to editor Wayne Shirley, the Gershwin "scholar" working at U of Michigan). But thank goodness we have the complete, unedited "Porgy" on record (for this, I cannot recommend Lorin Maazel's performance with the Cleveland Orchestra on London too highy or Simon Rattle's with Glyndebourne on, I believe, EMI).
Thanks, Stackdactor! Since the piece was intended for the movie DELICIOUS ("Rhapsody In Rivets), so you know if the pick-up orchestra were Angelenos? And who had this recording? I mean, had ever surfaced before "now"? I don't recall ever seeing it on vinyl, and they were releasing GG's piano roll performances in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and also the PORGY run-throughs. Again, I would love to know more about this!
yes but says: a" private recording of a rehearsal of the work that took place at the NBC studios in New York in June 1931" than was mad at NBC studios, not with NBC Orchestra! the NBC Orchestra was foundend only in 1937 for Toscanini, no officila NBC orchestra before!
I would love to know more about this recording! Does the poster know the circumstances under which it was recorded. I know the piece well, and what is fascinating is this is not the published version. (In the opening bars I noted a couple bars that GG subsequently removed.) Was this, perhaps, a "try out" of the piece for GG's own editing purposes. There are recordings of PORGY AND BESS for that very purpose. In any case, thanks!!!
Yes. This was a metal plate recording Gershwin had made for his own use while he was composing Rhapsody in Rivets to hear it so he could tune the final composition.
There's too much of the original rhapsody in blue in this one, but without the magic. I hear him trying to hard to sound modern. I think having all these European classical worshippers tell him he was a "Pop composer" bothered him and he was trying to show people that he wasn't with this piece. Sadly, he WAS a modern composer, and it was the directness of his music and the style he composed in---a mix of blues, classical and tin pan alley that made him so good----something which is muddled in this piece, as good as sections of it are. (I hear snippets of ideas that sound like previews from his vastly better Porgy and Bess score. you can hear previews of "There's a Boat that's leavin soon for New York" in several places here)
This is a really great piece. Gershwin composed this well, he just did something more modern indeed but still great. I can’t get what could be "muddled" in this amazing rhapsody.
@@Dylonely42 If you read what I wrote, I mentioned that his effortless sense of melody that is found in his songs doesn't come thru in this piece, which unlike his first Rhapsody didn't have that direct and memorable quality. The main riff is also far too similar to one of the main riffs in Rhapsody (The one with repeated note) and is repeated far too many times in the 2nd one. The 2nd one has a manic quality to it and is lacking in the magic and the bluesy feel that was present in the first one. It's an inferior composition to the first one.
@@mrbrianmccarthy Definitely not, I totally disagree. Gershwin did a way better work in his second rhapsody, it’s more original and richer. The amazing ending is also more special than the one of the first rhapsody, which is just the first theme and the transition motif (which is still great, I love both rhapsodies). Then, you say that the main riff is far too similar to the second main riff of the first rhapsody. Seriously, just because four notes repeat ? And the first theme isn’t repeated too many times since it always come in a different way. Rhapsody in Blue actually features way more repetitions. Gershwin truly improved with this piece of music. He is one of my favorite composers for his style of music, his melodies, his instrumentation and his way to compose. Takes also into consideration that the first rhapsody wasn’t orchestrated by Gershwin, so it has a less refined orchestration. I recommend you to listen again to his Second Rhapsody :)
thisn is gods Music....... gershwin was not an Atheist.......... no great Music was ever composed by an Atheist.......Facts and love from vienna austria
On a troubling note, Gershwin's original orchestration of the work was replaced - 14 years after his death - by his publishers in favour of a "tamer" version by re-orchestrated version by Robert McBride. It wasn't until 1984 that the original, more inventive original version was heard. For that recording, Michael Tilson Thomas went on a hunt for the original manuscript. As of 2020, the non-Gershwin re-orchestration is the only published version available.
We're fortunate Gershwin left us this valuable account of what he was like as a performer/composer/conductor.
Legendary.
I read once that Gershwin used to keep the score of Wagner’s Meistersinger on his piano. What a nice piece this Rhapsody is.
No less than James Morris, according to a 3x5 card in a CD Meistersinger box from my Mom who left us 90 years young last Summer, Meistersinger was the greatest of all operas.
He wrote the piano part, but his playing sounds relaxed and easy, seems almost extemporaneous. Very gratifying for me to hear that.
I've never heard an actual recording of him before. Thank you!
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1937 for Toscanini, but this was the "second" NBC Orchestra. In 1927 the
New York Symphony Orchestra,conducted by Walter Damrosch, merged with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, at that
time conducted ,I believe, by Arthur Bodansky. Both orchestras had recorded for Columbia Records. The 1905 recording of
selections from Carmen by the Damrosch Orchestra is probably the earliest recording by a major American symphony
orchestra. Walter Damrosch was a major musical pioneer and proponent of modern American music.A friend of Gershwin,
he conducted the first performance of that composers' Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [1928}. That same year, Damrosch
joined NBC and formed the "first" NBC Symphony Orchestra, and actually made several recordings in 1930 for RCA Victor,
An NBC affiliate. The "first" NBC Orchestra recorded under the name "The National Symphony Orchestra".Damrosch
conducted this Orchestra on his popular Music Appreciation Hour -over NBC - throughout the 1930's. Perhaps it is this
orchestra that was used for the Gershwin rehearsal recording.
Extraordinary! Many thanks.
I wrote too soon! Having listened, there a big chunks in this recording that were subsequently removed.
Thanks! Wonderful in so many ways!
i like this version better than the "revised edited versions" (which was the only version I had heard) ----but even this original version(which has some great stuff in it, don't get me wrong) has a manic quality that makes it not nearly as fun to listen to as the 1st Rhapsody(which is perfect) The main theme is simply grating on the nerves after awhile with its insistence on those straight 8th notes.
BUT---- I can see how Gershwin would be proud of this piece, as there's some really advanced harmony in this and some very clever use of rhythms. But, in my opinion, musically, it doesn't hit the heart the way the first one did. i am glad he wrote it tho, and of course, i will always be a fan of this guys music.
Grazie mille, como siempre again!
Gershwin was often obliged ( for by nature he was very obliging) to cut out passages from his larger works, but this was to the detriment of his work. I think his first inspirations were always his best. Take this 2nd Rhapsody, for instance. There is much here that is cut from the published version. "Porgy & Bess" is the most signal example, as it has been drastically cut often since its New York premiere in 1935. The recent Met performance ignominiously cuts so much inspired Gershwin out (thanks to editor Wayne Shirley, the Gershwin "scholar" working at U of Michigan). But thank goodness we have the complete, unedited "Porgy" on record (for this, I cannot recommend Lorin Maazel's performance with the Cleveland Orchestra on London too highy or Simon Rattle's with Glyndebourne on, I believe, EMI).
no, the NBC was founded in 1937 for Toscanini.
Thanks, Stackdactor! Since the piece was intended for the movie DELICIOUS ("Rhapsody In Rivets), so you know if the pick-up orchestra were Angelenos? And who had this recording? I mean, had ever surfaced before "now"? I don't recall ever seeing it on vinyl, and they were releasing GG's piano roll performances in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and also the PORGY run-throughs. Again, I would love to know more about this!
yes but says: a" private recording of a rehearsal of the work that took place at the NBC studios in New York in June 1931" than was mad at NBC studios, not with NBC Orchestra! the NBC Orchestra was foundend only in 1937 for Toscanini, no officila NBC orchestra before!
In regard to the comment below: everyone knows that Gershwin's Concerto in F was premiered in 1925! I'd better learn to
proofread!
I would love to know more about this recording! Does the poster know the circumstances under which it was recorded.
I know the piece well, and what is fascinating is this is not the published version. (In the opening bars I noted a couple bars that GG subsequently removed.) Was this, perhaps, a "try out" of the piece for GG's own editing purposes.
There are recordings of PORGY AND BESS for that very purpose.
In any case, thanks!!!
Yes. This was a metal plate recording Gershwin had made for his own use while he was composing Rhapsody in Rivets to hear it so he could tune the final composition.
Is this a pick-up orchestra--or the Paul Whiteman Band?
Never heard it before.
Grazie Goodmanmusica, come sempre !
@SteveAndrewLangford *come siempre
There's too much of the original rhapsody in blue in this one, but without the magic. I hear him trying to hard to sound modern. I think having all these European classical worshippers tell him he was a "Pop composer" bothered him and he was trying to show people that he wasn't with this piece. Sadly, he WAS a modern composer, and it was the directness of his music and the style he composed in---a mix of blues, classical and tin pan alley that made him so good----something which is muddled in this piece, as good as sections of it are.
(I hear snippets of ideas that sound like previews from his vastly better Porgy and Bess score. you can hear previews of "There's a Boat that's leavin soon for New York" in several places here)
This is a really great piece. Gershwin composed this well, he just did something more modern indeed but still great. I can’t get what could be "muddled" in this amazing rhapsody.
@@Dylonely42 If you read what I wrote, I mentioned that his effortless sense of melody that is found in his songs doesn't come thru in this piece, which unlike his first Rhapsody didn't have that direct and memorable quality. The main riff is also far too similar to one of the main riffs in Rhapsody (The one with repeated note) and is repeated far too many times in the 2nd one. The 2nd one has a manic quality to it and is lacking in the magic and the bluesy feel that was present in the first one. It's an inferior composition to the first one.
@@mrbrianmccarthy Definitely not, I totally disagree. Gershwin did a way better work in his second rhapsody, it’s more original and richer. The amazing ending is also more special than the one of the first rhapsody, which is just the first theme and the transition motif (which is still great, I love both rhapsodies). Then, you say that the main riff is far too similar to the second main riff of the first rhapsody. Seriously, just because four notes repeat ? And the first theme isn’t repeated too many times since it always come in a different way. Rhapsody in Blue actually features way more repetitions.
Gershwin truly improved with this piece of music. He is one of my favorite composers for his style of music, his melodies, his instrumentation and his way to compose. Takes also into consideration that the first rhapsody wasn’t orchestrated by Gershwin, so it has a less refined orchestration.
I recommend you to listen again to his Second Rhapsody :)
thisn is gods Music....... gershwin was not an Atheist.......... no great Music was ever composed by an Atheist.......Facts and love from vienna austria
khachaturian