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PASC070:
Rhapsody in Blue, Preludes 2 & 3 - Gershwin
MP3
price
Oscar Levant, Piano
Philhadelphia Orchestra
Conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Recorded in May 1945, issued as Columbia Masterworks set mx-251
Disc numbers 12126-D, 12127-D,
Matrix numbers XCO 34781-4
Transfer and Natural Sound remastering by Andrew Rose, March 2007
Download ID: 286068, 350160
(Duration
17'05")
A Pristine Audio Natural Sound restoration
Scroll down for PDF covers and cue-sheet download
Play
sample movement:
Oscar Levant's interpretation of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is widely considered second only to the composer's own recordings in its authenticity. The two men became friends following a visit to Hollywood by Levant in 1928. For the next 20 years Levant worked as a film composer and songwriter, as well as a very capable concert pianist, something he was later to incorporate into his own TV show - he was to become better known as a radio and TV wit than as a musician.
Despite studying composition under Schoenberg in the mid-1930's, Levant turned down the offer of an assistantship under him, considering himself unqualified. He continued to develop his playing career, with a number of works by Gershwin amongst his core repertoire. After the untimely death of Gershwin in 1937, Levant began work on a Suite for Orchestra, the central movement of which was dedicated to his friend. He was to go on to play himself in the 1945 Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue, having resumed an earlier film career playing alongside Bing Crosby in 1940's Rhythm on the River.
In 1942 he became a leading Columbia Masterworks recording pianist, and played many concerts as the highest paid solo artist of his day. [More on Levant]
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. The composition was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé three times, in 1924, in 1926, and finally in 1942. The piece received its première in a concert entitled An Experiment in Modern Music, which was held on 12 February 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band with Gershwin playing the piano. In the version for piano and symphony orchestra made by Ferde Grofé in 1942, it has become one of the most popular American concert works.
As the most famous classical composition by Gershwin, it established his reputation as a serious composer.
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