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 SING TO YOUR AUDIENCE. WITH OVERTURE. JAN UAR NO VE MB ER – DE CE MB ER Y–F EBR UAR Y 201 8 201 7 HT IN T ES S FLIG TAKE OF GU BSO HANDS RS THE UCTO COND E S ON MARK TH KIDS GROW ORCH DE OF ESS DECA SUCC AND MARIN TH E BS ALSO P ON E O CELEB AN D GR EA OF MUSIC RATE TEST ’S ICO NS BSO JO IN AN D BMA “IM PRE FO RC ES FO MAST SSI ON IST R ERWOR KS” Reach over 150,000 patrons of the BSO five times a year in Overture, a program that’s about more than just beautiful music. RESERVE YOUR AD SPACE TODAY! TO ADVERTISE, CONTACT: Ken Iglehart [email protected] Call 443.873.3916 Now also distributed at Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda M AY–J U N 2018 / OV E R T U R E 27