Why, it’s Gershwin’s birthday, by George! We’ll have two chances to celebrate today, on both my Saturday radio shows.
George Gershwin, of course, was one of our most versatile composers. He occupied a unique place in American music, rising from Tin Pan Alley scrapper to Broadway royalty. From there, he conquered the concert hall and even the opera house, with his blend of popular song, jazz, blues, spirituals, and European classical forms.
Like Franz Schubert a hundred years before, Gershwin managed to churn out an astonishing amount of music over a comparatively brief span. His songs, in particular, have been of enduring interest. His gift of lyricism and invention defied early critics as he bestrode the worlds of popular and classical music like an American colossus.
Sadly, at the peak of his success, he died of a brain tumor at the age of 38. But 89 years later, George, we’re still crazy for you.
This morning on “Sweetness and Light,” Gershwin will be one of four composers whose music we’ll enjoy in a salute to classic American musical theater. We’ll hear selections from Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle’s “Shuffle Along” (the 1921 all-Black musical that spawned the breakout hit “I’m Just Wild about Harry”), Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Town” (the ballet music, before it was distilled into the familiar “Three Dance Episodes,” with a 24-year-old Bernstein conducting), Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” (conceived by the composer as an opera, but produced on Broadway several times over the decades before finally being elevated to the pantheon), and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart’s “On Your Toes” (the climactic “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” sequence).
It’s guaranteed to get your toes tapping, for the most part, but I’ll also include a grand piano fantasy on themes from “Porgy” by Earl Wild. It’s showtime, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT!
Then later on today, on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll sample Gershwin’s artistry in recordings of his era, including several songs performed by Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, and Ella Logan. (So many excellent ones to choose from!)
We’ll also hear the world premiere recording of “An American in Paris” – performed by the Victor Symphony Orchestra (really members of the Philadelphia Orchestra), with the composer himself on the celesta – and the Concerto in F, performed as part of a Gershwin memorial concert at the Hollywood Bowl, with the composer’s friend, Oscar Levant, as soloist.
Three of these recordings date from 1937, the year of the composer’s death. All are from his era. I hope you’ll join me for “Vintage Gershwin,” this Saturday at 7:00 EDT/4:00 PDT.
It’s nice work if you can get it. Not that you need someone to watch over you, George. Our love is here to stay.
Strike up the band and let ‘em eat cake! Of thee I sing, on “Sweetness and Light” AND “The Lost Chord,” on KWAX Classical Oregon!
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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link.
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
Tag: Oscar Levant
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Our Love Is Here to Stay: Celebrating Gershwin on “Sweetness and Light” and “The Lost Chord”
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Funny Men Play Serious Rachmaninoff
As April Fool’s Day and Rachmaninoff’s birthday elide, here are two funny men in recordings that take the composer rather seriously.
Oscar Levant rode his neuroses and mordant wit to fame as a popular panelist on radio and television, the disheveled, chain-smoking second banana in motion pictures, and author of books with titles such as “A Smattering of Ignorance,” “The Memoirs of an Amnesiac,” and “The Unimportance of Being Oscar.” But he was also one of the most respected champions of the music of George Gershwin, a composer who studied with Arnold Schoenberg, and a serious pianist who performed and recorded the standard concerto repertoire with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Here, Oscar plays it straight, with Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G major, Op. 32, No. 5.
The pianist Victor Borge also displayed a genius for comedic improv, early in his career segueing from standard concert recitals to his signature cocktails of music and humor. His Broadway hit, “Comedy in Music,” entered the Guinness Book for the longest run of a one-person show (849 performances, from 1953 to 1956). In the 1960s, Borge was one of the highest-paid entertainers in the world.
Like Levant, he had his personal demons, but their source would appear to have been circumstantial rather than psychological. He attained early popularity in Scandinavia (Borge was born in Denmark), but as his extensive touring took him all over Europe, a Jew getting laughs with anti-Nazi jokes didn’t exactly endear him to Adolf Hitler. When German forces occupied Denmark, Borge hopped a U.S. Army transport out of Finland – though he would return, not long after, disguised as a sailor, to visit his dying mother.
He arrived in the United States in 1940, with 20 dollars in his pocket and no understanding of English. But he was a fast learner, and he taught himself the language by going to American movies.
Here, all jokes aside, Borge plays Rachmaninoff’s arrangement of Fritz Kreisler’s “Liebesleid” (“Love’s Sorrow”).
Kreisler was one of the world’s great violinists. A famous anecdote relates that he and Rachmaninoff were giving a concert in New York. In the middle of a performance, Kreisler suffered a memory lapse, and as he noodled around on his violin, trying to find his way back, he inched closer to his pianist and whispered, “Where are we?” To which Rachmaninoff replied, “Carnegie Hall.”
Rachmaninoff gets the last laugh on April Fool’s Day, as he performs Kreisler’s “Liebesfreud” (“Love’s Joy”).
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Gershwin & Schoenberg An Unlikely Friendship
Who’d a thunk the High Priest of Dodecaphonic Music would be such an admirer of popular success George Gershwin? You know, the guy that gave us “Swanee,” “I Got Rhythm,” and “Embraceable You,” and also “Rhapsody in Blue,” “An American in Paris,” and “Porgy and Bess.” And that furthermore the admiration would be reciprocated?
In this Arnold Schoenberg sesquicentennial year (he was born on September 13, 1874), we mark Gershwin’s birthday anniversary (born on this date in 1898) with a glimpse into classical music’s most unlikely mutual admiration society.
Gershwin and Schoenberg were tennis partners, both very serious about the game; they were painters (although Schoenberg abandoned the art to devote himself to music); and of course Gershwin hoped to study with Schoenberg, arguably the most influential avant-garde master of the 20th century.
Sadly, just months after Gershwin painted Schoenberg’s portrait, he died of a brain tumor at the age of 38. The next day, Schoenberg eulogized his friend for broadcast over the radio.
Interestingly, Gershwin’s friend and champion, the pianist Oscar Levant, did study composition with Schoenberg. Schoenberg was sufficiently impressed that he offered Levant a job as his assistant, but Levant turned him down, feeling he wasn’t worthy. Levant is still considered one of Gershwin’s foremost interpreters. Of course, he also appeared in the film version of “An American in Paris” with Gene Kelly.
George and Arnie were like the Frog and Toad of Beverly Hills. Remembering the multifaceted George Gershwin on his birthday.
Gershwin the painter
https://smtd.umich.edu/ami/gershwin/?p=870
Schoenberg paintings and drawings
https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/schoenberg-2/bildnerischeswerk
Home movies of Schoenberg, filmed by Gershwin, set to a recording of Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 4 that Gershwin sponsored. The nattily turned-out Gershwin can be seen with pipe and five o’clock shadow, winding the camera. Also, Schoenberg eulogizes Gershwin. All in three minutes!
More Gershwin home movies, including images of Schoenberg, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Levant in “An American in Paris.” He’s the whole show in Gershwin’s Concerto in F.
PHOTO: Gershwin paints Schoenberg
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Vintage Gershwin on the Lost Chord
This week on “The Lost Chord,” it’s very clear our love (for Gershwin) is here to stay!
We’ll get a jump on the Fourth of July celebrations with an hour of vintage recordings of music by one of our most versatile composers.
George Gershwin occupied a unique place in American music, rising from Tin Pan Alley scrapper to Broadway royalty. From there, he conquered the concert hall and even the opera house, with his blend of popular song, jazz, blues, spirituals and European classical forms.
Like Franz Schubert a hundred years before, Gershwin managed to churn out an astonishing amount of music over a comparatively brief span. His songs, in particular, have been of enduring interest. His gift of lyricism and invention defied early critics as he bestrode the worlds of popular and classical music like an American colossus.
Sadly, at the peak of his success, he died of a brain tumor at the age of 38.
We’ll sample Gershwin’s artistry in recordings of the era, including several songs performed by Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, and Ella Logan. (So many excellent recordings to choose from!)
We’ll also hear the world premiere recording of “An American in Paris” – performed by the Victor Symphony Orchestra (really members of the Philadelphia Orchestra), with the composer himself on the celesta – and the Concerto in F, performed as part of a memorial concert at the Hollywood Bowl, with the composer’s friend, Oscar Levant, as soloist.
Three of these recordings date from 1937, the year of the composer’s death. All are from his era. I hope you’ll join me for “Vintage Gershwin,” this week on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
PHOTO: (left to right) Astaire with George and Ira Gershwin
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