Gershwin: The Birth of 'Rhapsody in Blue': Paul Whiteman's Historic Aeolian Hall Concert of 1924

Maurice Peress’s reconstruction of Paul Whiteman’s 1924 concert puts Rhapsody in Blue into its original context and scoring. Rhythms could be together. Plus, anyone for Pomp and Circumstance... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2020, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 6th Sep 2019
Catalogue No: NI2584
Label: Nimbus

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Gershwin: The Birth of 'Rhapsody in Blue'

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The selections Whiteman included in the 1924 Aeolian Hall Concert, which had that curious title ‘An Experiment in Modern Music,’ were divided into various sections, such as ‘The True Form of Jazz’ and ‘Recent Compositions with Modern Score.’ The intention was that together they would be audible proof that jazz-inspired music had come of age. These performances of Gershwin classics and hard-to-find rarities capture the 1920's and 30's jazz age style and offers a gamut of lesser known keyboard works, as well as Gershwin's only known works for violin and piano and for string quartet. The three orchestral works include Mr. Peress' theater orchestration of Gershwin's Strike Up the Band Overture, and the I've Got Rhythm Variations recorded in its original orchestration for the first time.

Reviews

March 2020

Maurice Peress’s reconstruction of Paul Whiteman’s 1924 concert puts Rhapsody in Blue into its original context and scoring. Rhythms could be together. Plus, anyone for Pomp and Circumstance with saxophones and banjo?

August 2019

This superlative recreation of the famous Paul Whiteman band concert of 1924 is an absolute must for all Gershwin fans and music historians.

Gershwin: The Birth of 'Rhapsody in Blue'

2 CDs

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