We got RhythmConcert of the Bavarian State Orchestra

One hundred years ago, the audience at New York’s Carnegie Hall witnessed a milestone in musical crossover, when George Gershwin’s Concerto in F was premiered with the composer himself at the piano. A masterpiece of 20th century music, it was Gershwin’s only piano concerto and the first orchestral work that he fully orchestrated himself. With it, the by then already world-famous songwriter and composer of musicals achieved a fusion of forms and styles that had previously seemed irreconcilable and that no-one since has ever brought together in such a natural manner.

Leading up to the world premiere’s centenary, the Munich publishing house G. Henle Verlag, known for its original editions for practical usage, has published a well-researched edition of this piano concerto, restoring Gershwin’s original musical notation without any of the subsequent “improvements” by other arrangers.

Director of Music Vladimir Jurowski places the work in the American context of its time: with another orchestral work and three Gershwin songs (sung by Natalie Lewis), as well as the second American Symphonette by Morton Gould, who is regrettably little known in Europe, and the three Dance Variations by Gershwin’s legitimate successor Leonard Bernstein. “His melodies are not the products of combination, nor of a mechanical union, but they are units and could therefore not be taken to pieces. Melody, harmony and rhythm are not welded together, but cast.” (Arnold Schönberg on George Gershwin) “Music is music.” (Alban Berg at the end of a discussion on the value of Gershwin’s songs)

In cooperation with G. Henle Verlag