Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season FINAL_BSO_Overture_May_June | Page 29
Gershwin boldly set to work on his
Concerto just one year later, completing
it with characteristic speed between July
and November 1925. Commissioned
by Walter Damrosch for the New York
Symphony Orchestra, it represented a far
more ambitious step into the world of
classical music than the Rhapsody, written
for Paul Whiteman’s congenial jazz
orchestra. Originally feeling ill-equipped
as an orchestrator, Gershwin had turned
the scoring of the Rhapsody over to
Ferde Grofé, but with the Concerto he
tackled the formidable job of scoring for
a large symphony orchestra himself. The
results were felicitous: Gershwin taught
a classical orchestra to swing while
handling the various instruments with
sympathetic skill. The premiere, before
a packed house at Carnegie Hall on
December 3, 1925 with the composer as
soloist, was a triumph.
The composer provided us with a
helpful roadmap to his creation:
“The first movement employs the
Charleston rhythm [introduced by winds
after the brash opening fanfare]. It is
quick and pulsating, representing the
young enthusiastic spirit of American
life.…The principal theme is announced
by the bassoon. Later, a second theme is
introduced by the piano.” That second
theme, a gorgeously romantic Gershwin
tune, is the concerto’s signature theme
and will return, played grandioso by the
full orchestra, to conclude both the first
movement and the last. Throughout,
we hear Gershwin the great keyboard
improviser in the piano part.
“The second movement has a poetic
nocturnal atmosphere, which has
come to be referred to as the American
blues, but in a purer form than that in
which they are usually treated.” With
its first mournful theme introduced by
muted solo trumpet, this movement is a
masterpiece of atmosphere and perhaps
the highlight of the entire work.
“The final movement reverts to
the style of the first. It is an orgy of
rhythms, starting violently and keeping
to the same pace throughout.” The
piano’s relentless hammering gives
way periodically to reminiscences of
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