When “Porgy and Bess” concluded its New York run in 1935, George Gershwin invited Jerome Moross to join the show, on tour, as a pianist. It was on a bus trip to Los Angeles to participate in “Porgy’s” west coast premiere that the 23 year-old composer made a stop in Albuquerque.
“[A]s we hit the Plains I got so excited,” Moross recollected. “. . .[T]he next day I got to the edge of town and then walked out onto the flat land with a marvelous feeling of being alone in the vastness, with the mountains cutting off the horizon. The whole thing was just too much for me . . . it was marvelous, and I just fell in love with it.”
The experience served him well, as some of his most famous music, the Academy Award-nominated score for “The Big Country,” enshrines that sense of excitement in the face of sweeping vistas. Western high-spirits and American jazz color most of Moross’ output, whether for the silver screen, musical theater, or concert hall.
We’ll celebrate the composer’s birthday this afternoon, with selections from all three, during my air shift, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
Also listen for selections by Enrique Granados and Ernst von Dohnányi, left over from last Wednesday, when my car broke down on the way to the station. Get a horse!
