Keep Oppo Gershwin

"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
06/26/2014 at 14:39 • Filed to: None

I could listen to this all day.

DISCUSSION (9)

Jagvar > Jayhawk Jake
06/26/2014 at 14:59

Love the Rhapsody. For me, though, it starts getting really good around the 12-minute mark.

crowmolly > Jayhawk Jake
06/26/2014 at 15:08

FUCK YOU UNITED AIRLINES FOR CORRUPTING THIS.

Yes, the caps are necessary. Just talked about this in a meeting this AM about auditory to memory associations.

Jayhawk Jake > crowmolly
06/26/2014 at 15:21

I don't think they corrupted it.

crowmolly > Jayhawk Jake
06/26/2014 at 15:31

Might just be my coworkers and I and our experiences with United. A beautifully crafted song that plays over and over when you are stuck in an uncomfortable cabin for a long and completely avoidable delay.

Jayhawk Jake > crowmolly
06/26/2014 at 15:47

I guess I look at air travel different from everyone.

I don't go crazy over delays or legroom or any of that crap. You're still flying, that's still amazing to me. I'm even well versed in the theory behind it and I still find it incredible that airplanes can fly

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake
06/26/2014 at 15:52

Okay, I'll be that guy.

Here's the story about that piece as I learned it. Gershwin was contracted by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra to write a classical/jazz concerto, and Gershwin forgot all about the commission until five weeks before the concert when his brother Ira saw the premiere advertised in the paper. With very little time to complete the composition, Gershwin hurriedly composed some orchestral interludes which would be interspersed with piano improvisation at the performance (it was reworked many times after the premiere). The orchestrations were completed in the last days by Ferde Grofé, perhaps best known for his own Grand Canyon Suite . In Whiteman's own words, the work was experimental. The piece was "to be purely educational" and would "at least provide a stepping stone which will make it very simple for the masses to understand, and therefore, enjoy symphony and opera". And that is exactly why I don't care for the piece. It just sounds kind of hodgepodge to me, disconnected, sporadic, formulaic. But there is no underestimating its importance in the history of classical/jazz fusion. I've played much of Gershwin's music, and there's little to complain about most of it. I've performed the Rhapsody a number of times, so maybe I'm just tired of it.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn
06/26/2014 at 15:55

I'm no musician, so I just like the song because it sounds good to me.

It seems to be one of those cases where someone got lucky. It's a hodgepodge, it's disconnected and sporadic like you say, that much is true. But it's exactly that nature of the song that evokes a sense of a city when you listen to it, it just exudes american metropolis culture.

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake
06/26/2014 at 16:05

Absolutely. And I'm certainly not trying to discourage you from liking it. The piece oozes American-ness, and that is one of the reasons I like Gershwin's music in general. We were coming out of centuries of European dominance in classical music, and folks like Gershwin, Copland, Grofé, Bernstein and others put a very big "USA" stamp on the world. An American in Paris is one my favorites.

ly2v8-Brian > Jayhawk Jake
06/27/2014 at 00:21

Beautiful Piece. One of my absolute favorites. Thank You.