George Gershwins: Rhapsody in Blue~Makoto Ozone - New York Philharmonic - Conductor Alan Gilbert Makoto Ozone (born 25/3/1961 in Kobe) is a Japanese jazz pianist. He began playing organ at two and by seven was an improviser. He appeared on Japanese television with his father from 1968 to 1970. At twelve he switched to piano after being impressed by albums by Oscar Peterson. In 1980 he entered the Berklee College of Music and later worked with Gary Burton. He also had his debut in 1983 before returning to his native Japan. Alan Gilbert (born 23/2/1967) is an American conductor and violinist. He is currently the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, making his debut performance as the orchestras music director on September 16, 2009. He lives in New Yorks Upper West Side with his Swedish wife Kajsa and his three children, Lia, Noemi, and Esra. Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition by American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the composition was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé several times, including the original 1924 scoring, theater orchestra setting published in 1926, and the symphony orchestra scoring published in 1942, though completed earlier. The piece received its premiere in the concert, An Experiment in Modern Music, which was held on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Whiteman and his band with Gershwin playing the piano. The editors of the Cambridge Music Handbooks opined that The Rhapsody in Blue (1924) established Gershwins reputation as a serious composer and has since become one of the most popular of all American concert works. ( History) Commission: After the success of an experimental classical-jazz concert held with French-Canadian singer Eva Gauthier at Aeolian Hall (New York) on 1 November 1923, band leader Paul Whiteman decided to attempt something more ambitious. He asked Gershwin to contribute a concerto-like piece for an all-jazz concert he would give in Aeolian Hall in February 1924. Whiteman became interested in featuring such an extended composition by Gershwin in the concert after he had collaborated with Gershwin in the Scandals of 1922, impressed by the original performance of the one-act opera Blue Monday, which was nevertheless a commercial failure. Gershwin declined on the grounds that, as there would certainly be need for revisions to the score, he would not have enough time to compose the new piece. Late on the evening of January 3, at the Ambassador Billiard Parlor at Broadway and 52nd Street in Manhattan, while George Gershwin and Buddy De Sylva were playing billiards, his brother Ira Gershwin was reading the January 4 edition of the New York Tribune. An article entitled What Is American Music? about the Whiteman concert caught his attention, in which the final paragraph claimed that George Gershwin is at work on a jazz concerto, Irving Berlin is writing a syncopated tone poem, and Victor Herbert is working on an American suite. In a phone call to Whiteman next morning, Gershwin was told that Whitemans rival Vincent Lopez was planning to steal the idea of his experimental concert and there was no time to lose. Gershwin was finally persuaded to compose the piece. Premiere: Rhapsody in Blue premiered in an afternoon concert on February 12, 1924, held by Paul Whiteman and his band Palais Royal Orchestra, entitled An Experiment in Modern Music, which took place in Aeolian Hall in New York City. Many important and influential composers of the time such as John Philip Sousa and Sergej Rachmaninov were present. The event has since become historic specifically because of its premiere of the Rhapsody.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 05:52:09 +0000
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