Playing for APZ Tone Tomsic at University of Santo Tomas

I just wanted to share this funny article I read from Stuart Isacoff’s Natural History of the Piano (highly recommended!) regarding a recital “gimmick” written by Wanda Landowska:

“A certain pianist… hired women for twenty francs a concert to simulate fainting in the midst of his playing of a fantasia (that he) attacked so fast that it would have been humanly impossible to carry on at that speed to the end. Once, in Paris, the hired woman, having fallen soundly asleep, missed her cue; the pianist was playing Weber’s Concerto. Counting on the fainting of this woman to interrupt the finale, he had started it at an impossible tempo. What to do? Flounder like a vulgar pianist or simulate a lapse of memory? No, he simply played the role of the hired woman and fainted himself. The audience rushed to the help of the pianist, who was all the more phenomenal, since he added to his lightning performance a fragile and sensitive nature. He was carried backstage; men applauded frantically, women waved their handkerchiefs, and the fainting woman, waking up, really fainted, perhaps in despair at having missed her cue.”

That. Was. Hilarious! In a few days, I will be playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Banda 31 Wind Symphony in my native city of Tarlac. If I am such an entertainer, maybe a creative fainting might be a good idea! The piece’s famous melodies, jazzy chords and excitingly difficult repeated and running notes beg for a sensational moment like this. I cannot imagine myself doing it though… maybe the conductor should do all the fainting?

I wonder how audiences would react to something like this. In my experience, modern classical music goes are very conservative. I know that they might be interested in creative extra-musical ideas but a scheme like might not work.

Chromatik Musicology 101: Sheet Music

A wise jazz musician once said, “Know the rules before you break them”. In that spirit, Chromatik’s Eric Sandler looks into the history of American sheet music in the advent the Tin Pan Alley era. So throw on your 3-piece or your Cloche hat, and listen to our Spotify playlist as we take you back to the beginnings of American pop music.

The advent of sheet music as a viable business didn’t really take on until 1880 with the rise of Tin Pan Alley. Originally Tin Pan Alley only referred to a specific building on W. 28^th and 5^th Ave. in New York City, but eventually it came to represent an entire period of popular music dominated by music publishers and songwriters.

Since the early Renaissance-era manuscripts of monophonic chants, sheet music has been around in one form or another. As the printing press made waves in the 15^th century people sought to print music, but it was not easy at first. The first recorded printed book to include music, the “Mainz psalter,” (~1457) had to have the musical notation hand-written in. Yet as technology advanced throughout the centuries and songwriters eventually came together into a de facto publishing house, Tin Pan Alley came to represent an industry that was growing exponentially. Within the first ten years of the 20^th century songwriters and publishers were churning out upwards of 25,000 popular songs per year, the highest production of popular music ever.

Composers like Scott Joplin, Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, Andy Razaf, and others were creating what would be the centerpiece of popular American music for the next 50 years. It wasn’t until the rise of rock & roll that the face of pop music really changed. Yet, it was not only the actual music that was being charted; precedents were being set for the entire music business as an industry.

As more families bought pianos for their households, songs became the selling point. It wasn’t the performance or the artist, but the songs which thrived. Song pluggers were hired to go around performing the sheet music as a means to sell more of it. As a result it was this era that separated the performance from the song, thus creating the complex state of the industry we see today with songwriting splits and the likes for better or worse.

As you take a listen through our playlist composed of some of the biggest hit songs throughout the Tin Pan Alley era, be sure to read up on some of these amazing composers and check out the sheet music that led the industry into the 20^th century.

Check out the sheet music for classics “Rhapsody in Blue” & “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”!

Gershwin

George Gershwin

The first piece played was Rhapsody in Blue (1924) by George Gerswin. It was written for a solo piano and orchestra, and it has created some good debate among critics, most notably concerning if it is a full composition or a series of paragraphs stuck together. The question of can it be considered as a jazz piece or not is also still quite topical. Since its first performance Rhapsody in Blue, which was meant to be a ”musical kaleidoscope of America”, has come to be seen as a representation of all things New York.  It  features in movies and TV shows depicting New York such as Glee, Doctor Who, Manhattan and Gremlins 2. In the Magical Music Box it inspired a story about gangsters, molls, jewel thefts and the Empire State Building.

The piece opens with a distinctive and iconic wailing clarinet playing a glissando, sounding like a siren. It is probably one of the best known openings to a piece of music and is great live. I am very glad that Gershwin chose it add it to the original score after Ross Gorman played it as a joke at an early rehearsal. The music swaggers in the opening with deep brassy undertones supporting the clarinet as it sails above the orchestra. What I really like about this piece is that it gets loud, quickly. Symbols crash and the orchestra belts out the melody before it lulls into a quieter piece with pianos or wind/brass instrument solos, before the orchestra crashes in again. This theme is repeated keeping the audience of their toes, not quite knowing what is coming next. There is also a beautiful section where the strings play a dreamy melody which is a nice contrast to some of the jazzier elements of the piece. The composition is formed in such a way that the changes never feel like an intrusion or a rude interruption but rather just a fun, spirited showcase of the orchestra. You could also see that the orchestra were really enjoying playing the piece and the conductor, Matthew Coorey really kept the energy going. This was great stuff as he was wearing formal tails and bouncing about to a jazzy composition.

But the real star of the show is really the piano, which plays solos throughout. The varied style of playing is exciting to listen to and did not fail to impress on the night.  The melodies are beautifully crafted, chopping and changing to the different themes and embellishments on the themes. The tempo varies widely through for all instruments but it is most evident in the piano playing. In fact this is the piece which makes me wish I knew how to play the piano as it just makes it sound like so much fun.

As stated above there is still a debate raging about whether Rhapsody in Blue is jazz or not. I am in no way qualified to make a pick a side on that but I will say that nobody can deny that it is heavily influenced by jazz.  Blue notes, glissando, ragtime rhythms, and use of instruments such as the saxophone are included which  give the piece a jazz like feel even if it is not counted as “pure jazz”

Next Philip Martin, the pianist, played a selection of songs from the American Songbook. These were delightful pieces which flowed with each other nicely. Now to be honest I couldn’t tell you which was which but he definitely played Sweet and Low Down, Somebody Loves Me,The Man I Love, Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away)
and I Got Rhythm. The audience could really tell that Philip Martin was a big Gershwin fan as he played with great enthusiasm and even jumped but at the end with sweeping jazz hands pointing to the orchestra. He even invited the audience to sing along, not that anyone was brave enough. He was an absolute legend and it was a brilliant end to end the first half!

Next Thursday part two will describe the second half of the show, Gustav Holst’s The Planets. 

Well, the New Dawn roses were duly planted around the hammock trees (a cherry plum and an oak), both of which could do with some decoration, and in spite of being planted as close to the trees as possible these roses are doing just fine. The deer took a nibble of them at first, but then they sprouted new shoots and even some flower buds, so all is well.

The Rhapsody in Blue roses, though, were destined to have their own section of The Ambitious Border, but… That section hasn’t happened yet. At all. So in order to keep the plants alive I heeled them in in a pot, all five together, and stuck it in a shady corner of the courtyard until I could get around to creating a place for them to live.

That was four months ago…

Much to my surprise, all five plants are still alive and well, and they are even flowering! Five roses, squashed together in a 10″ diameter pot, and they have survived and even thrived!

I’m amazed at how well they are taking their maltreatment. They’ve not had any fertilizer, compost or anything; I just stuck them in a pot and filled it with clay because I thought it would just be for a few weeks and clay has such great water retention, but clearly clay is all they want!

Eventually, though, they will go out into The Ambitious Border as originally planned, but considering how well they are doing in their temporary pot I may or may not end up leaving one of the five plants as a potted rose. (Though in a larger pot…)

It just goes to show that not ALL supermarket roses are bad – though most probably are… Especially the ones sold in-store in 3″ pots… Mind you, this particular supermarket chain doesn’t stock the plants themselves; they are just the middle-man; the roses came from a Danish nursery and were then shipped with an independent logistics company, so they were by no means the sort you’d find on shelves outside your local supermarket.

And though hardly any of my readers are Danish, just in case… Roses from bilka.dk are great value for money!

English: George Gershwin, 28 March 1937 Azərbaycan: Corc Gerşvin, ABŞ bəstəkarı, 28 mart 1937 Español: George Gershwin, 28 marzo 1937 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gershwin died this day (July 11) in 1937.  In his honor, I’m going to be doing some heavy duty, Gerswhin listening.  To start off, here is a playlist from Spotify:

In case the embed code is acting up (which it seems to be), here’s the actual link:  Gershwin

George Gerswhin was the son of Jewish immigrants to the US, born in New York in the 1890s.  His family name had been changed from Gershowitz to Gershvin sometime after immigrating.  Gershwin began piano studies sometime after his parents purchased a piano for lesson for his older brother (and eventual lyricist) Ira.  Ira wasn’t interested, but Gershwin took to it early on.  However, interestingly, George wasn’t the first in the family to make a living with music; his sister Frances made money as a performer but gave it up in favor of being a housewife.

George got his start in music working in music publishing in Tin Pan Alley.  He published his first song at the age of 17, earning him $5.  He wrote many songs, including his first national hit, during this period.  He also composed numerous piano rolls – music for player pianos – during this time.  From there, he moved into writing musicals such as Lady Be Good and Funny Face.

It wasn’t until 1924 that Gershwin composed his first classical piece, Rhapsody in Blue, which ultimately turned out to be one of his biggest hits.  After this, he moved to Paris, where he attempted to study with Nadia Boulanger and Maurice revel, who both rejected him as a student, apparently for fear that study with them would spoil his jazz-influenced style.  During this period, he also composed An American in Paris, before returning to the US.

Gershwin’s most ambitious composition was Porgy and Bess (1935). Gershwin called it a “folk opera,” and it is now widely regarded as one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century. “From the very beginning, it was considered another American classic by the composer of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ — even if critics couldn’t quite figure out how to evaluate it. Was it opera, or was it simply an ambitious Broadway musical? ‘It crossed the barriers,’ says theater historian Robert Kimball. ‘It wasn’t a musical work per se, and it wasn’t a drama per se — it elicited response from both music and drama critics. But the work has sort of always been outside category.”^[20]

But I’m already on the road again…..

Yup, that’s right…you’ve encountered a blog post and no one is here….in fact, I wrote this thing over a week go (thank you WP for delayed posting!)…

My boys and I are on our way to visit friends and then I’m headed back for some fun in the City.

Which city?

Why, is there any other than New York????

Oh, wait, Jay Z and Alicia aren’t your style?  Well, then let’s take it back to the original man of New York…Billy Joel…

Or, one of my favorites…..no, it’s not traditionally about New York, but Disney did such a good job….

You see, this is one free gal for the next 7 weeks.

No, you didn’t read that wrong….

7 weeks!!!

Mama is a happy camper!

I have plans for this summer.  Stuff around the house, stuff outside of the house, some of it happening in my bed.

Get your heads out of the gutter - I meant sleeping in!!!

So, I will not be blogging for the next few days.  I’ll be back around on Monday.

I hope you all have a great few days and don’t miss me too much…..

Well, miss me as much as I’ll miss you…..

Each and every one of you!

Till later, chickadees…..

This girl is out….

Can I give you a call if I  need bail money????

As Gershwin himself later said, “It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer – I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise… And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end. No new themes came to me, but I worked on the thematic material already in my mind and tried to conceive the composition as a whole. I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.”

What better music for a Sunday morning though, than Aaron Copland’s hauntingly melodic ‘Saturday Night Waltz’ from the wonderful ‘Rodeo’?

Apologies for the static imagery, but the only ‘live’ performances I could find on YouTube were all spoiled by people coughing and the like.

Just turn the sound up and let it wash over you. Dancing is optional.

 “You know, it is going to be hard to get good seats. This concert is really popular and has very sold well,” said the Overture Center’s box office agent when I went to exchange tickets to last weekend’s all-Gershwin concert by the Madison Symphony Orchestra from Sunday afternoon to Friday night.

And she was right.

So I ended up sitting pretty close to the stage, with a somewhat limited vision of the soloists and especially of the full orchestra and chorus.

But one look backwards over my shoulder, out into beautiful Overture Hall, and I saw how packed the 2,200-seat hall was – and it was really packed. That is surely an enviable way to end a season on a high note.

Not that it was unexpected.

By now we all should know that MSO music director and conductor John DeMain (below) has a special talent for Gershwin. He is closely identified with the opera “Porgy and Bess.” His recording of it won a Grammy, and he has conducted it some 400 times all over the country, including at the City Opera in New York City from which it was broadcast on PBS’ “Great Performances.”

While I don’t have exact attendance figures, it sure seems like houses were very good, even if the Sunday performance was a little under-attended because of Mother’s Day. One MSO player even commented that it was such a pleasure to play before a big and appreciative audience. So much for the terrific commercial success of closing out the season.

So artistically, how did the MSO do?

Well as you will see below, the critics, including The Ear, are pretty much unanimous in their judgments: the all-Gershwin concert was great artistic success for the MSO and DeMain as well as for the soloists and Madison Symphony Chorus.

How could it be otherwise?

That’s why Venezuelan-born and –trained superstar maestro Gustavo Dudamel (below) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic did a Hi-Def international satellite broadcast of Gershwin. Why Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony did one. Why Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic did an all-Gershwin broadcast for New Year’s Eve on PBS’ “Live From Lincoln Center.” And it also why the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, under Andrew Sewell, opened this past season with Gershwin’s  “Rhapsody in Blue” with the young Russian virtuoso pianist Ilya Yakushev as the soloist.

So here is how the MSO’s all-Gershwin fete sounded to The Ear.

The orchestra and Madison Symphony Chorus performed superbly and tightly and with all the tonal color and dance-like, bluesy rhythms that Gershwin demands, right down to the French taxi horns and Cuban percussion. They sounded balanced with convincing dynamics and a big sound.

The soloists were, for the most part, terrific and absolutely first-rate. DeMain knows how to pick singers, and they brought off the authentic Gershwin sound with infectious conviction. This music left you pleased, happy and satisfied. George Gershwin’s music seems one of the few things that Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, can agree on these days.

I guess that’s good.

The first half of the concert was devoted to the popular shorter pieces: the “Cuban” Overture, “An American in Paris” and “Rhapsody in Blue.” The entire second half was devoted to an extremely well-constructed concert version, by orchestrator and arranger Richard Russell Bennett (below), of “Porgy and Bess” that reduced the four-hour opera to 40 minutes.

The singers, soprano Laquita Mitchell (below top) and baritone Michael Redding (below bottom), both did an outstanding job with the 40-minute concert version of the 4-hour opera “Porgy and Bess.” Redding especially brought out the characters of the roles he sang. He projected right off the stage and was rewarded with loud cheers from the audience.

My biggest disappointment – and it wasn’t all that big– came in the “Rhapsody in Blue.” Dressed fittingly in a bright blue gown, pianist Martina Filjak (below) played the Rhapsody well. She sure has chops, but great interpretations require more than great chops. I found her technique too prominent. She seemed to bang it out at times when it could have used a subtler, softer and more seductive approach. This Gershwin work is more French than Russian, more Ravel than Rachmaninoff. She should listen to Oscar Levant’s old recording.

But what I am really left with is how my overall impression of Gershwin, to whom I previously had paid only passing attention, took shape.

I loved the Gershwin concert while I was in it. But as soon as I left it, I found the music did not stick with me except for some tunes and some lyrics. And it did not make me ask questions or leave me wanting more.

And that, in turn, tells me why Gershwin is so popular.

Gershwin (below), who died prematurely of a brain tumor at 38, was clearly a Tin Pan Alley composer. He composed some dozen Broadway musicals before he even took up writing music for the concert hall. And that experience shows.

There is an ease and naturalness about listening to a Gershwin tune. When the famous Burton Lane song asks “I like a Gershwin tune, how about you?” who could possibly answer “Well, I don’t.” Gershwin’s songs are irresistible. They watch over you.

But if I compare the “Rhapsody in Blue” to, say, Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4 or Schumann’s Piano Concerto or Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3, I have no problem knowing which one I would and wouldn’t want to hear repeatedly, which one lacks development and depth, and which one has them.

The “Rhapsody in Blue” is engaging and exciting while it lasts, but then it is over. On the other hand, the other more substantial works may not be as easily digestible, but their nourishment is more sustaining and they continue to yield up insights on repeated hearings.

It’s not that Gershwin is a crossover or superficial composer, even though he is used in a lot of ads. As DeMain explained in his illuminating comments before the performances, Gershwin does indeed define an identifiably American sound. But let’s be honest:  Gershwin’s American sound is closer to song masters George M. Cohan, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern than to composers Charles Ives and Aaron Copland.

You can take Gershwin (below) out of Broadway. But, like the music of Leonard Bernstein – a Gershwin champion and DeMain mentor whose greatest and most beloved is theater music from “West Wide Story” and “Candide” – you can’t take Broadway out of Gershwin. And Broadway is nothing, if not popular.

Little wonder that we remember “An American in Paris” from Gene Kelly’s Hollywood choreography. And little wonder that even “Porgy and Bess,” a genuinely sincere attempt at serious concert music, got treated this last year to a controversial ADD makeover for today’s Broadway.

This love of Gershwin is here to stay.

What did others think?

Here is John W. Barker’s review for Isthmus:

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=36737

Here is a Lindsay Christians’ review for 77 Square, The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal:

http://host.madison.com/entertainment/arts_and_theatre/reviews/travel-from-cuba-to-porgy-s-wharf-with-mso-s/article_702d9b84-9c59-11e1-a1d2-0019bb2963f4.html

Here is a review by Greg Hettmansberger for Madison Magazine and his blog “Classically Speaking”:

http://www.madisonmagazine.com/Blogs/Classically-Speaking/May-2012/Madison-Symphony-Season-Closes-with-Gobs-of-Gershwin/index.php

Here is a review by Bill Wineke for WISC-TV and Channel3000.com:

http://www.channel3000.com/entertainment/Review-Concert-shows-why-we-love-Gershwin-tunes/-/1628/13193028/-/2qgj2ez/-/index.html

Keith Lockhart Leading the Boston Pops.  Photo by Stu Rosner and Courtesy of the Boston Pops

Thursday night’s Boston Pops concert (which I was graciously invited to attend by a member of the Pops’ Public Relations staff) encompassed all the superlatives that fans have come to expect from the self-proclaimed “most beloved orchestra in the country,” terms which some critics love to spout with a knowing wink or a half bored, half defeated sigh: the Pops’ “Gershwin Spectacular” was energetic, beautiful and (perhaps most critically damning) a lot of fun.

George Gershwin’s music is an ideal springboard for the blend of music appreciation, whimsical theatrics and family-friendly fun that is the Pops.  A composer with one foot in Tin Pan Alley and the other in the formal European aesthetic, works such as Rhapsody in Blue and An American Paris, with their busy figures, jazz-inspired rhythms and spicy harmonies portray fast-paced, urban modernity without the jarring dissonances of Gershwin’s continental colleagues.  Gershwin also had a knack for musical development minus the inundating depth of those allegedly more “serious” composers.

At the same time this song-plugger from Brooklyn knew the power of a lush, catchy tune.  The well-known themes of his longer compositions, not to mention standards such as “I Got Rhythm” and “Embraceable You” are inherently hummable and open to a range of interpretations.  Add a beloved institution like the Pops, with its plush sound, grand stage effects and conductor Keith Lockhart’s gift for educating an audience without condescending to them, and it’s hard to miss.

Keith Lockart and the Boston Pops on Opening Night, May 9, 2012. Photo by Stu Rosner and Courtesy of the Boston Pops

Lockhart’s conducting is suitably animated for the stage as well as the music, and he (mercifully) avoided trying to make close to a hundred players swing, opting for an effective lilt instead.  Other than orchestral cues, the Pops orchestra doesn’t seem to need to be directed so much as set on their way.  They hit all the notes with the right amount of precision and an abundance of joy.  Details like perfect intonation, airtight orchestral blend and clarity of textures are somehow beside the point.  If the lower brass were occasionally too loud, or principal clarinet Thomas Martin ignited Rhapsody in Blue with a cleanly executed, playful glissando, if the double reeds struck the perfect tone of loneliness over glazed strings during the market scene of American, while the drums rushed slightly under the muddied mix of “Fascinating Rhythm,” these were just details to plenty of beautiful melody and rhythm, which were in turn instrumental(s) to a much bigger show.

A montage of scenic routes, big sloppy kisses and other heartwarming images projected onto a large overhead screen opened the program, accompanied by a bright, brassy orchestration of Gershwin’s “Love is Sweeping the Country.”  Pianist Michael Chertock joined the Pops as featured soloist in Rhapsody in Blue, and while his expressionless rubato and choppy, mannered dynamics made the first part of the title an afterthought, he dazzled the crowd with thundering flourishes and finger-busting cascades.  Gene Kelly’s dreamy ballet setting of An American in Paris, from the 1951 MGM film, blossomed on the big screen above the Pops’ vivid (occasionally mis-synced) reading of Gershwin’s score.

George Gershwin (Right) and His Brother/Lyricist Ira, by Al Hirschfeld

After their deliciously dainty leashes ‘n young love pantomime for Promenade: Walking the Dog, the students of The Boston Conservatory Theater Division sang and danced their way through a Gershwin revue that included staples such as  “Fascinating Rhythm,” Embraceable You” and “I Got Rhythm” as well as lesser known songs such as “By Strauss” and “Slap That Bass,” which featured beaming principal bassist Lawrence Wolfe showing off his own slap and swing.  Classic Broadway style and young voices (as well as youthful slips in intonation and time) made for an uplifting close to the program, and a reminder why Gershwin’s music has become the backbone of the American songbook.

In some ways John Philip Sousa has become the backbone of the Pops, since none of their concerts can close without a rousing The Stars and Stripes Forever.  The theme of the current Pops’ season is “Visions of America,” so Sousa’s well-worn march has more of a connection than ever.  If the Pops are tired of rolling out Sousa’s orchestral arrangement, which they premiered in 1897, this blogger can never tell.  Recognizing joy and tradition above all else is simply what the Boston Pops do, and for that type of honesty they deserve applause.

And goodness knows so does Thomas Martin’s clarinet!  To hear his fantastic solo and the Pops’ warmth on “Rhapsody in Blue,” check out the clip here, graciously provided by the Pops.

A Boston Pops Audience (Don’t Bother Looking for This Writer’s Radio-Ready Visage). Photo by Stu Rosner and Courtesy of the Boston Pops

After the last three weeks, which were super busy with concerts, it is refreshing to have a relative breather leading into Mother’s Day this Sunday.

It’s happening later than usual, but the big MUST-HEAR event this week is that the Madison Symphony Orchestra is closing out is current season this coming weekend.

The program is an appealing all-Gershwin program – a natural fit for MSO music director and conductor John DeMain (below, in photo by James Gill), who won a Grammy for his authentic production of the opera “Porgy and Bess.” He has since conducted it over 400 times, including a one show that was broadcast nationwide on PBS’ “Great Performances.”

Excerpts of “Porgy and Bess’ with will performed with singers soprano Laquita Mitchell (below) and baritone Michael Redding in solo roles. Also included are “An American in Paris,” the “Cuban” Overture and the evergreen “Rhapsody in Blue” with pianist Martina Filjak. The Madison Symphony Chorus, under Beverly Taylor, will also perform.

Always popular, the music of George Gershwin (below) is undergoing a major revival, it seems to The Ear. The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra opened this past season with the “Rhapsody in Blue.” Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic did a Gershwin concert for HD satellite broadcast.  Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony also did a Gershwin concert.

Some of the best commentary and analysis I’ve ever heard about the music of Gershwin came on Wisconsin Public Radio on Monday. That is when DeMain appeared with host Norman Gilliland on The Midday (noon to 1 p.m.).

DeMain sat at the studio keyboard and played snippets and sang – not a voice to win the Met auditions but quite serviceable — as he demonstrated all sorts of things. He showed how carefully Gershwin structured “Porgy and Bess.” He demonstrated why Gershwin (below) is as much a classical composer as he is a jazz, popular or crossover composer. He explained how an orchestra “swings” a rhythm. He talked about various piano soloists, including Leonard Bernstein, who wrongly think they can “improve” the “Rhapsody in Blue” by taking liberties with the notes, rhythm and tempi. He showed how Gershwin loved and incorporated the music of J.S. Bach. And his wit and good humor matched his deep knowledge and extensive first-hand experience.

It was a brilliant and accessible, amiable and witty discussion that all Gershwin fans, and especially non-Gershwin fans, would be smart to listen to. Hands down, it was the best introduction to Gershwin that The Ear has ever heard.

When I last looked for  the interview-demonstration, it was not yet posted in WPR’s Audio Archives. But I suspect it will be shortly. So here it s a link:

http://www.wpr.org/midday/

In the meantime, the all-Gershwin concerts will be held in Overture Hall on Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 8 p.m.; and on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $13.50 to $78.50. Call the Overture Center box office at (608) 258-4141.

For more information, visit: 
http://madisonsymphony.org/gershwin

For program notes by J. Michael Allsen, visit:

http://facstaff.uww.edu/allsenj/MSO/NOTES/1112/8.May12.html

FRIDAY

Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale, from 12:15 to 1 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society Meeting House, 900 University Bay Drive, features pianists Sonya Clark and Leo Van Asten who will perform music for piano-four hands by Dvorak, Ginastera, Schubert, Brahms and Van Asten. For information, call 608 233-9774 or visit www.fusmadison.org

SATURDAY

At 7:30 p.m. in the downtown historic Gates of Heaven Synagogue (below) in James Madison Park, 302 East Gorham Street, the local early music, period instrument and vocal ensemble Eliza’s Toyes and guests will be performing rarely heard music composed by Heinrich Schütz, Johann Schein, and Samuel Scheidt.

The concert, titled “The three Sch’s: Music By Schütz, Schein, and Scheidt,” includes a pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door.

The program by Eliza’s Toyes (below) will showcase some of their best works, both sacred and secular. Highlights include Scheidt’s most somber setting of “Miserere mei Deus” for soprano and 5 low voices, and his uplifting setting of Psalm 148 in German “Lobet, ihr Himmel den Herren”; Schein’s motet “Ach Herr, ach meiner schone”, and a very funny song from his 1626 collection “Studentenschmaus”; and selections of Schütz’s rarely heard Italian madrigals, particularly “Vasto Mar” for 8 voices.

Besides musicians from the regular ensemble, special guests viol player Eric Miller (belowl) and Lawrence Conservatory faculty organist Kathrine Handford will be joining in the music making.

At 7 p.m. in the same venue, there will be a pre-concert lecture titled “Singing the Reformation”, by Erin Lambert, A.W. Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Fellow in History and a Ph.D. candidate in early modern European history at UW-Madison.

Here are some program notes from director and performing member of Eliza’s Toyes, Jerry Hui:

“Schütz, among the three featured composers, received the most household recognition because his career spanned across several countries. However, they all were regarded highly. Singled out by the 17th-century German composer/theorist Wolfgang Caspar Printz as the best German composers in his book “Historische Beschreibung” (1690), they were important in cultivating a distinctly German musical style, and their work would influence generations of composers to come —from J.S. Bach in later Baroque period, to Brahms in the Romantic period, and even to Hugo Distler of the 20th century.”

Adds Hui (below): “Much of these composers’ music, driven strongly by modal counterpoint but also showing influence of Baroque harmonic progression, are not heard as frequently as they should. Perhaps this is because many other Baroque composers — such as Bach and Sweelinck — worked around that time period wrote in a style that is more distinguishable from what is considered the Renaissance period. Also, the vocal range demanded by these composers from the choir often differs from the standard setup of a four-part choir, especially in requiring more low altos or high tenors.”

For more information about the program and Eliza’s Toyes, visit: 
http://toyes.info

SUNDAY

From 12:30 to 2 p.m. “Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen” closes out its current season with pianist Raffi Basalyan (below) in Brittingham Gallery Number III at the Chazen Museum of Art, 759 University Ave. This will be his fourth appearance on “Sunday Afternoon Live.”

The program includes Baghdassarian’s Prelude in B minor; Bach/Busoni: Two Chorale Preludes; Liszt’s Transcendental Etude #10 in F minor and “Mephisto Waltz”; and Rachmaninoff’s “Polka de WR” and Sonata No. 2, Op. 36.

 As usual, the concert will be broadcast live by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Members of the Chazen Museum of Art or Wisconsin Public Radio can call ahead and reserve seats for Sunday Afternoon Live performances. Seating is limited. All reservations must be made Monday through Friday before the concert and claimed by 12:20 p.m. on the day of the performance. For more information or to learn how to become a museum member, contact the Chazen Museum at (608) 263-2246.

A reception will follow the performance with treats, coffee, and tea donated by local businesses. We would like to thank our generous donors, Fresh Madison Market, Steep & Brew, and Coffee Bytes. A free docent-led tour in the Chazen galleries begins every Sunday at 2 p.m.

On Sunday, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., in the Middleton-Cross Plains Area Performing Arts Center (below) at 2100 Bristol Street, in Middleton High School, the Madison Youth Choirs will perform their spring concert series, entitled Revolution!

These concerts focus on the connections between music and social change. Featuring music from “revolutionary” composers along with compositions from the Civil Rights movement, Revolutionary War, anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa and the Estonian “singing revolution.”

Selections by Brahms, Billings, Britten, Persichetti, Vittoria, Handel, and more will be featured.

Here is the schedule of performers and programs:

2 p.m.: three boychoirs (Purcell, Britten, Holst) and three girlchoirs (Choraliers, Con Gioia, Capriccio)

7 p.m.: three high school ensembles (Cantilena, Cantabile, Ragazzi)

Tickets are $9 plus a processing fee in advance or $12 at the door. Children 7 and under are free.

About Madison Youth Choirs (MYC): According to the organization, “Madison Youth Choirs strives to create a community of young musicians dedicated to musical excellence through which we inspire enjoyment, enhance education, and nurture personal, musical, and social development, by the study and performance of high-quality and diverse choral literature. To this end, we focus on the process and provide singers a rich rehearsal experience where thoughtful discussion and activities lead to larger connections and a music education that becomes a springboard for understanding the world.”

For more information, visit: www.madisonyouthchoirs.org

[it may look Japanese, but wait a second....]

From Wikipedia: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue

—–

From National Public Radio, today…

A Gershwin Biopic That Ain’t Necessarily So True

May 4, 2012

The movie Rhapsody in Blue, a biography of George Gershwin, was released only eight years after his death from a brain tumor at the age of 38. It’s a good subject: Gershwin wrote some of the best popular songs ever produced in this country, but he also had ambitions to be a serious classical composer and wrote symphonic music, concertos and an opera — all of which are still performed.

He’s played by Robert Alda, the matinee-idol father of M*A*S*H‘s Alan Alda, who went on to star in the original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls. He captures both the well-documented charm and the driven quality of the brilliant young composer.

Other sympathetic performances include avuncular Charles Coburn as Max Dreyfus, Gershwin’s supportive music publisher, and theater legend Morris Carnovsky as Gershwin’s father. Carnovsky’s Hollywood career would soon come to an end when he was blacklisted, but he remained a respected stage actor.

Injecting an uncanny reality into the film are a number of figures from Gershwin’s circle who play themselves. Gershwin’s real-life friend, pianist and caustic comedian Oscar Levant, gives the film its biggest jolt of satiric energy. Levant was famous for playing Gershwin’s music, and it’s Levant we hear in the piano solos for Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F.

Warner Archive Collection

For a scene reenacting the historic premiere of Rhapsody in Blue at Aeolian Hall, the conductor is bandleader Paul Whiteman, who conducted the real premiere. In a scene in a Turkish bath, we find the real George White, producer of the famous series of Broadway revues for whom Gershwin wrote many of his early hits. And making a guest appearance is no less a star than Al Jolson, whose original rendition of “Swanee” made Gershwin famous.

Among the film’s other musical high points are a rare staging of Gershwin’s early mini-opera, Blue Monday, which got only one performance on Broadway. There’s lovable song-and-dance man Tom Patricola, who isn’t even credited, singing and dancing “Somebody Loves Me,” the Gershwin song he actually introduced onstage. And most remarkable, Anne Brown — the original Bess in Porgy and Bess — sings the most famous song from that opera, “Summertime.”

But Hollywood can’t help messing with facts. Gershwin’s brother Ira, who wrote the lyrics to most of George’s songs, is a major character in the film, but their two other siblings are completely expunged. In the movie, George discovers that Ira can write lyrics years after the real Ira started writing them.

Gershwin was something of a playboy who never married. His most serious romance seems to have been with songwriter Kay Swift, for whom he named one of his biggest hit shows, Oh, Kay!

But with astonishing chutzpah, the film concocts for him two completely fictional lovers — an imaginary Broadway star named Julie Adams, played by goody-goody Joan Leslie, and a cool society beauty played by Alexis Smith. One gratuitously false bit of dialogue comes when Gershwin meets Oscar Levant in Max Dreyfus’ office.

“I’m George Gershwin,” he says. “That’s my real name.”

But George was actually born Jacob Gershvin. In this movie, real history, in the form of the people who actually knew George Gershwin and performed his music, makes a bigger and truer impression than the Hollywood fabrications.”

Related articles

• DVD Review: Rhapsody in Blue (1945) (blogcritics.org)
• 17 Rhapsody in Blue (livingthedigitallife.wordpress.com)
• Gershwin Writ Small (3quarksdaily.com)
• End of a great day in Prague – a Gershwin concert in the Spanish Synagogue followed by pizza – Marilyn and Alf (alfandmarilyn.wordpress.com)
• Ibrahim Maalouf: Writing the Lebanese Rhapsody in Blue (dominicambrose.wordpress.com)
• Rhaspody in Blue (1924). George Gershwin /it skips, stops and starts/ (rgable.typepad.com)

The Cornell University Wind bands will be live streaming their concert tonight (May 3) at 8:00pm, from Bailey Hall in Ithaca, NY. The concert will feature the CU Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony, with conductors Cynthia Johnston Turner and student guest Tyler Ehrlich. The program is listed as follows:

WIND ENSEMBLE

Overture to Candide Leonard Bernstein
Give Us This Day David Maslanka
Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin

WIND SYMPHONY

The Thunderer John Phillip Sousa
After the Thunderer Ira Hearshen
San Antonio Dances Frank Ticheli
Music for a Festival Philip Sparke (Tyler Ehrlich, guest student conductor)

On a related note – the CU Winds website has a listing of their programs dating back to 2004, which is always a fun way to look at who’s playing what!

Live Streaming Thursday — CU Winds

I have been thinking about the cityscape a lot over the past few months. How we begin to define ourselves in relation to a place, and what that means for the continuation of our society. Plus I use the word ‘existential’ once or twice.

Click here to read

Also, here’s a link to George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, which I mention in the article. It’s not the full work, but it sure is a great animation-