Is "Rhapsody in Blue" Awesome?

Most everyone here has heard it, in some way, shape or form, I'm sure. I thought it might be worth a thread. Anyways, I just picked up the "Manhattan" soundtrack at a thrift store, which has got me remembering just how much I love this piece. As a little kid, I used to listen to my Dad's beat up copy of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performing it sometime in the 50s. I remember I thought certain parts were kinda scary and sinister. I definitely associated it with 'serious music' -- and, well, I'd say it certainly is. Now, when I'm listening, it sounds by turns limber and playful, bombastic and virtuosic. Lots of fun. So, is it awesome? Does anyone know anything about how Gershwin wanted it received at the time? Is it voyeuristic fake jazz? If it is, is it still awesome? What do you think about its use in "Manhattan"?

yeah it's awesome

i gave up playing clarinet before i could do the opening glissando :'(

I say no to being 'fake jazz' and yes to its' awesomeness. I would guess that I listen to it 6-9 times a year. It's modern and beautiful.

It is great! Copland's Piano Concerto is equally as cool imo, they make good companions.

great

was also the title of Gershwin biopic starring Alan Alda's dad.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038026/combined

I think those ubiquitous friendly skies commercials from my childhood really killed one of the best parts for me

Does anyone know anything about how Gershwin wanted it received at the time?

From Richard Crawford's entry on Gershwin in Grove:

The work was first performed in New York’s Aeolian Hall on 12 February in a concert billed as ‘An Experiment in Modern Music’. It purported to demonstrate that the new, rhythmically vivacious dance music called jazz, which most concert musicians and critics considered beneath them, was elevated by the ‘symphonic’ arrangements in which Whiteman’s band specialized. Gershwin’s Rhapsody won both the audience’s approval and the critics’ attention. Performed repeatedly, and also recorded, the work also won renown for its composer, as a historical figure – the man who had brought ‘jazz’ into the concert hall.

Although most observers saw Rhapsody in Blue as a new departure for the young songwriter, in fact it reaffirmed Gershwin's continuing involvement with classical music. In 1915 he had begun to study harmony, counterpoint, orchestration and musical form with Kilenyi, continuing at least to 1921. His first classical piece, the Lullaby for string quartet (c1919), was apparently composed as a harmony exercise for Kilenyi. His second, a brief opera called Blue Monday, opened the second act of George White’s Scandals for 1922 but was withdrawn after its first performance. On 1 November 1923 Gershwin performed in an Aeolian Hall recital by the Canadian mezzo soprano Eva Gauthier that helped to set the stage for Whiteman’s concert less than three months later. In a programme that ranged from songs by Purcell and Bellini to works by Schoenberg, Hindemith and Bartók, Gauthier included compositions by Gershwin, Kern, Irving Berlin and Walter Donaldson, the latter group accompanied by Gershwin. The musical juxtapositions of Rhapsody in Blue had roots in a sensibility that never fully accepted a separation between popular and classical genres.

It's totally awesome btw.

(12 Feb 1924)

p. much the only good part of Fantasia 2000.

It's not really jazz, but it's not fake either. And it is awesome.

I'm not clear on the reciprocal influences between Gershwin and Ellington, but I think it's safe to say the positive reception of Rhapsody helped create an audience for Ellington's increasingly ambitious compositions. So the jazz world benefited hugely from what Gershwin did.

Sund4r, thanks for that Crawford entry. Elsewise, I'm kinda remorseful at raising the 'fake jazz' spectre itt, because I'm not sure it exactly applies. Kinda clumsy attempt at provoking discussion I guess.

I wish there was an easy way to discuss the various non-theme little bits in RiB, because there are some that just knock my socks off.

Now, I wanna see Alan Alda's dad as Gershwin, and I must check out the Copland piano concerto, which I've never knowingly heard.

p. much the only good part of Fantasia 2000.

so true

is there anyone who thinks this isn't awesome?

listening to Zubin Mehta and the NY Philharmonic's take on it for the Manhattan soundtrack now = bliss.

yeah, it's a really nice version, isn't it?

very much so. my first introduction to it as well, so bonus points.

it being Rhapsody in Blue, back when I was 15 and watching all of Woody Allen's 70s films.

this is a good piece of music.

so good. I've been listening to it a lot lately.
it's interesting the way it's not really considered a cohesive composition as a whole, more like a juxtaposition of motives that could totally be played independently from one another and still be great.
bernstein wrote some things about that. and I totally agree. actually, there are moments when I would prefer to listen to only one of the parts over the others.
I love the way he mixes elements of american music (i.e jazz) and french contemporary classical (ravel, debussy) to great effects.
another funny thing is that there are some parts in the beach boys' "smile" that are so directly linked to this (especially in "heroes & villains").

brb just gonna listen to this

Uri Caine recorded his version a few years ago (which I haven't heard yet). Willem Breuker did a Gershwin project in the 80s, some of it is on youtube.

Nice work on the piano there, George!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Okcn34E1RY

Who will be the first to sample this now that it's in the public domain?

is it the composition that's in the public domain or the first recording?

The composition. So I guess that would still restrict sampling of recordings. But someone could freely perform or interpolate it (a la "My Favorite Things" for Ariana Grande's "7 Rings") without permission.

I was listening to La Creation du Monde by Darius Milhaud the other day and it's basically Rhapsody in Blue except made a few years earlier. You can really see the Milhaud influences on Gershwin with that one.

Haven't sampled or remixed it exactly, but this mix is intended to work as an expansion of Rhapsody In Blue

https://centuriesofsound.com/2020/05/04/1924/

(Sorry if this is excessive spamming of my mixes, I only do one a month, if that's any consolation)

I was listening to La Creation du Monde by Darius Milhaud the other day and it's basically Rhapsody in Blue except made a few years earlier. You can really see the Milhaud influences on Gershwin with that one.

Yikes, both things are new to me, despite having just spent a day reading about RiB. Will have to update my show notes.

Listening to La Creation do Monde now, can hear the similarities, think "basically the same" is overselling it a little though. Is there a particular arrangement / performance I should be checking out?

Copland's beautiful Piano Sonata is worth checking out too, similar in tonality and maybe in construction too.

Now that I am up to 1924 in my deep-dive of all known recorded music and have heard the song for the first time, I can now say that it is FUCKING AWESOME is what it is. I need to listen to it twenty-to-thirty more times to really get a handle on what’s going on with all the little sections. Amazing!

This is one of the greatest songs of all-time.

Banjo legend Bela Fleck released an amazing album of Rhapsody in Blue and other Gershwin pieces earlier this year.

The concept behind my 1924 mix is "everything goes in the middle of Rhapsody In Blue" but guess you've heard that Mr. Snrub.

Ethan Iverson has an opinion. (N.B. I do not agree with him).

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/arts/music/george-gershwin-rhapsody-in-blue.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare