At 07:41 AM 3/9/05 -0500, Darcy James Argue wrote:
Just FYI -- in case you've never heard the original version, with the Paul Whiteman band and Gershwin at the Piano, you can listen to it here: http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/Whiteman/rhapblua.ram There is also a version recorded in 1927 using electrical recording equipment, with much improved sound quality ("much improved" being a relative term, of course -- we're still talking about 1927, after all): http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/Whiteman/rhapsody.ram
It looks like (after a couple of mentions) that many consider Rhapsody to be a great work. Although I accept that it was groundbreaking, influential, got a lot of press, yada-yada, I question whether it was really "great." It was rushed off after Gershwin had forgotten that he was supposed to write it, and it doesn't really have the cohesion that one would expect from a major work, even from a popular composer. It's just kind of a bunch of nice tunes strung together rather primitively, with a couple of motives sequenced without really any development per se, with a competent orchestration for jazz band with strings. Nothing really great about it, IMHO.
For "great" I would definitely rank his Piano Concerto above Rhapsody, and I would absolutely put "Porgy and Bess" into the ranks of "great", as it not only accomplished everything he was trying to do with Rhapsody, but the structure, development, and cohesion are right up there with other operas. Unfortunately, he wrote it in the 30's, so it doesn't fit your category.
For Gershwin works from the 20's I would possibly include "I Got Rhythm" for its subsequent ubiquity (rather than its "greatness"), and "Fascinating Rhythm" because he got it so right, even more right than "Charleston" got it right.
It was good to see a mention of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. They, above all others in the jazz domain, deserve a mention. Never before or since have so few sides influenced so many, even including "Kind of Blue."
Christopher
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