The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #173083   Message #4197221
Posted By: FreddyHeadey
15-Feb-24 - 06:18 AM
Thread Name: Rhapsody In Blue at 100
Subject: RE: Rhapsody In Blue at 100
^^^^^^^^The R3 Breakfast programme 12th Feb 2024 playing a truncated version put on disk a few months after the premiere.

Rhapsody in Blue (jazz band version)
Performer: George Gershwin.
Music Arranger: Ferde Grofé.
Orchestra: Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra.
NAXOS.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001w1v6
> skip to ~1:40:30


American Rhapsody
Sunday Feature - BBC Radio 3 - 11th Feb 2024

Culture writer Olivia Giovetti travels to New York City to investigate the legacy of Rhapsody in Blue and to ask, 100 years after its premiere, with the United States of America feeling more divided than ever and with many more musical genres and influenes for composers to draw on - is it possible to write a single piece of music that sums up America in 2024?

Olivia talks to luminaries of American music today including Jennifer Higdon, Steve Reich, Anthony Davis, Rachel Grimes, Allison Loggins-Hull and Carlos Simon about their creative process, what has changed in the last 100 years of American music and how they might approach a modern-day Rhaposdy.

Olivia also meets pianist, singer and Gershwin expert Michael Feinstein who talks through the fascinating stories behind Rhapsody in Blue's conception, while pianists Lara Downes and Vijay Iyer alongside composer Raven Chacon discuss how we might view the piece through a contemporary lens. George Gershwin claimed he heard the Rhapsody "as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America...of our vast melting pot" - but does the concept of the 'melting pot' hold true in 2024?   

Presenter: Olivia Giovetti
Producer: Nick Taylor
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001w1sl