George Gershwin

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of George Gershwin.


When a second-hand piano was hoisted through the window of the
Gershwin family’s Lower East Side apartment, a window was quite
literally opened onto a new world. Donald begins by looking at
Gershwin’s early and lifelong love of the instrument. For many,
he was the foremost composer of the "jazz age" and it's through
jazz-inflected interpretations that his music has reached its
widest audience. Next, Donald tells the story of Gershwin's
excursions in the concert hall. He may have been the toast of
Broadway, but his attempts to move musically out of the theatre
district and into the hallowed portals of the city’s concert
halls were, despite some successes, constantly frustrated and a
source of disappointment to him. To end, Donald charts George
Gershwin's final years, partly spent in a ramshackle beach
cottage on Folly Island in South Carolina. His memorable musical
experiences with the local Gullah people eventually inspired his
magnum opus, the opera Porgy and Bess.


Music featured: Summertime That Certain Feeling Three Preludes
Piano Concerto in F Has Anyone Seen Joe The Real American Folk
Song Fascinating Rhythm Embraceable You I Got Rhythm I Got Rhythm
Variations Someone to Watch Over Me Rhapsody in Blue Second
Rhapsody American in Paris Strike Up the Band Overture Cuban
Overture My Man's Gone Now I Got Plenty of Nothin' Bess, You Is
My Woman Now It Ain’t Necessarily So I Loves You Porgy Catfish
Row Suite


Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Martin Williams


For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details,
and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after
broadcast) head to the series page for George Gershwin:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001tjn


And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve
featured on Composer of the Week here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z