Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue / An American In Paris
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Music CD Cover
Composer: George GershwinConductor: Leonard Bernstein
Performer: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra: New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Orchestra: Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Rhapsody in Blue, for piano & orchestra (orchestrated by F. Grofé) - G. Gershwin
- An American in Paris, tone poem for orchestra - G. Gershwin
Free Music Notes for Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue / An American In Paris
Free Music Review: Bernstein plays Gershwin
Hit: 5 Stars
We all know that Leonard Bernstein was a great conductor, possibly the greatest of the American born conductors of the twentieth century. It was wonderful to learn that Bernstein was always an excellent pianist. On occasion, Bernstein would conduct the orchestra AND play the piano, too. In the early days of stereo LPs, Columbia Records released Bernstein's recording of two masterpieces by George Gershwin: "An American in Paris" and "Rhapsody in Blue." For some reason, the album featured two DIFFERENT orchestra: the New York Philharmonic in "An American in Paris" and the Columbia Symphony in "Rhapsody in Blue."
While it is obvious that the New York Philharmonic was an established orchestra, actually the oldest symphonic orchestra in the country (founded in 1842, the same year that the Vienna Philharmonic was started), many people have wondered what was the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. There is a simple answer. Columbia Records, the oldest recording company in America, sometimes wanted to make recordings with a "house" orchestra and it was apparently cheaper and easier to simply contract New York musicians and put together an ensemble of musicians. They usually recorded in Columbia's 30th Street Studios. This practice went back to at least 1949, when Sir Thomas Beecham visited New York and made a series of high fidelity recordings in Columbia's studios, which were released on both 78-rpm and 33-1/3 rpm discs. Sometimes, however, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra was also drawn from Los Angeles musicians, as was the case with some of the late recordings made for Columbia by Bruno Walter, who lived in Beverly Hills. Igor Stravinsky made a number of recordings with the Columbia Symphony as well; it isn't always clear as to where the recordings were made since Stravinsky also lived in Beverly Hills for many years.
Anyway, Bernstein recorded the "Rhapsody" with the Columbia Symphony's New York musicians, possibly including some members of his own New York Philharmonic, in 1959. The sessions took place in the 30th Street Studios. For some reason, Bernstein made some minor cuts in the music, most likely in the slow solo section. It was still better than Gershwin's own abridged recordings in 1924 (acoustical) and 1927 (electric) for Victor with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. If you compare what we have of Gershwin playing and with Bernstein's own performance, the results are quite similar. Bernstein was a very gifted pianist, who had classical training as well as an appreciation and affinity for jazz and blues. Although Bernstein both played and conducted, he was able to keep the orchestra together and they worked extremely well with him. Musicians generally admired Bernstein and enjoyed working with him, as is clearly apparent from this performance. This is, of course, Ferde Grofe's orchestral version since Gershwin did not orchestrate the score. (Gershwin did not begin orchestrating his music until the following year when he wrote his "Concerto in F.") Grofe may have taken suggestions from Gershwin about the instrumentation, especially the famous opening clarinet solo, which is exceptionally well played here. There is an excitement and emotion throughout the performance, making it still one of the best recorded versions.
In "An American in Paris," Bernstein functioned strictly as conductor with the New York Philharmonic. He was able to achieve a performance that captured all of the different moods in this piece, which was inspired by Gershwin's visit to Paris in 1928, where he met Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky, among others. He was able to utilize the French atmosphere of the city and add jazz and blues elements since it was basically an American's impressions of an exciting cultural city. It was the epitome of the appreciation Americans felt for Paris between the two world wars. It was a major achievement and Bernstein's performance has always been cited as one of the best versions of the music because he succeeded in balancing the jazz and symphonic elements of the work. Few conductors had been so successful in doing this. In many ways, Bernstein's recording has set the standard. It benefited, too, from excellent recording technology and was an early example of the virtues of stereophonic sound.
These recordings have been continually available in various versions, first released by Columbia Records and then by Sony, which acquired Columbia some years ago. They are well worth having in any collection, especially for those who love Gershwin and Bernstein.
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