{"id":812,"date":"2018-04-19T01:58:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T23:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicallradio.com\/articles\/?p=812"},"modified":"2019-11-08T19:09:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T18:09:25","slug":"%d1%9f%d0%be%d1%80%d1%9f-%d0%b3%d0%b5%d1%80%d1%88%d0%b2%d0%b8%d0%bd-%d0%b3%d0%bb%d0%b8%d1%81%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b4%d0%be-%d0%ba%d0%be%d1%98%d0%b8-%d1%98%d0%b5-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%be%d0%b1%d1%83%d0%b4%d0%b8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicallradio.com\/articles\/en_US\/2018\/04\/19\/%d1%9f%d0%be%d1%80%d1%9f-%d0%b3%d0%b5%d1%80%d1%88%d0%b2%d0%b8%d0%bd-%d0%b3%d0%bb%d0%b8%d1%81%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b4%d0%be-%d0%ba%d0%be%d1%98%d0%b8-%d1%98%d0%b5-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%be%d0%b1%d1%83%d0%b4%d0%b8\/","title":{"rendered":"George Gershwin: The Outrageous Glissando That Woke Up America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around thirty years ago, the American composer, pianist, and conductor Marvin Hamlisch said that it is not that difficult to comprehend the \u2018\u2019ingredients of Gershwin\u2019s musical greatness“. It was, according to him, “hot jazz, soulful blues melodies, and the Old world music<\/i>“, brought to America by the Jewish immigrants. Still, Hamlisch, who is best known for the music he composed for the “Sting“, “Sophie\u2019s choice and “The way we were“ hasn\u2019t even tried to explain why and how Gershwin managed to combine them so well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Hamlisch, many other musicians tried to explain the unique trace George Gershwin left in American and world history of music. The jazz double bass player Tommy Cecil thought that the “value of Gershwin’s music doesn’t lie in the fact that it is “multicultural.“ Gershwin’s music is compelling because he employed a multitude of influences, including jazz, with brilliance, imagination, and taste.<\/span>“ Leonard Bernstein considered Gershwin to be the most inspired melodic on planet, since Tchaikovsky. Among numerous colleagues who admired his music are Prokofiev, Ravel, and Schoenberg.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" Gershwin (on the right) on Ravel’s birthday party<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go back to 1924. for a moment, to the premiere of the\u00a0Rhapsody in Blue<\/i>. On February the 12<\/span><\/span><\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0the concert under the name\u00a0“Experiment in modern music“<\/i>\u00a0was held in New York where, besides Gershwin\u2019s composition, 25 more pieces from other authors were represented. The New York Times music critic Olin Downes wrote that the scenography was equally unconventional as the program itself. He went on describing\u00a0\u201ca scene that would have curdled the blood of a Stokowski or a Mengelberg,\u201d two of the most revered conductors of the day, not just because the musicians drew on an instrumental arsenal that included pianos in various states of disassembly, an array of wind, brass and percussion, and \u201cfrying pans, large tin utensils, and a speaking trumpet, later stuck into the end of a trombone<\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Up to that moment, a twenty-six years old Gershwin composed his\u00a0Rhapsody in<\/i>\u00a0just three weeks, and since he himself played the piano part, he changed and improvised some sections in the last moment.\u00a0Rhapsody,\u00a0<\/i>which was performed at the end of a long and a bit tiring concert, provoked exhilaration and brought the audience to their feet. It seemed clear to everyone that they\u2019ve just attended the historical turning point, both in jazz and classical music. As the musicologist, Howard Goodall would poetically notice: \u201cby the end of those 15 minutes, the world of music had been changed forever<\/em>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n