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Donald Macleod explores the early life of George Gershwin, the composer of the American β€˜melting pot’.

Donald Macleod explores the early life of George Gershwin, the composer of the American β€˜melting pot’.

Gershwin started working as a musician and songwriter in his teenage years and became one of the defining voices of a new America in the swinging 20s and the glory days of Hollywood in the 1930s.

This was a period when American writers, artists, advertisers, architects and film-makers were inviting audiences to see, hear and think about the world in ways that they never had before – in ways that made sense of, or at least gave them a way of looking at, the modern world.

Gershwin was one of these trailblazing modernists in part because of his effort to make music commensurate with the idea of American as a β€˜melting pot’ – and his bridging the outmoded gulf between high and low culture.

Rhapsody in Blue
Jean Yves Thibaudet, piano
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
Sarah Vaughan
Hal Mooney, piano

Swanee
Frank Braley, piano

Our Love is Here to Stay
Nigel Kennedy, violin

Lullaby
Cleveland Orchestra
Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Somebody Loves Me
Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano

Suite from Blue Monday (arr. Jeanneau)
Katia Labeque and Marielle Labeque (pianos)

Rhapsody in Blue
Jean Yves Thibaudet, piano
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor

59 minutes

Last on

Mon 26 Jun 2023 12:00

Music Played

  • George Gershwin

    Rhapsody in Blue

    Performer: Jean‐Yves Thibaudet. Orchestra: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • DECCA 478 2189.
    • Decca.
    • 1.
  • George Gershwin

    Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

    Singer: Sarah Vaughan. Orchestra: Hal Mooney & His Orchestra. Conductor: Hal Mooney.
    • GPR RECORDS : 6784822.
    • GPR RECORDS.
    • 3.
  • George Gershwin

    Swanee

    Performer: Frank Braley.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI : HMG-501883.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 14.
  • George Gershwin

    Our Love is Here to Stay

    Performer: Nigel Kennedy. Performer: Sonja Schebeck. Performer: Tomasz Kupiec. Performer: Rolf Bussalb. Performer: Howard Alden. Performer: Alicja Śmietana. Performer: David Heath. Performer: Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska.
  • George Gershwin

    Lullaby

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA : 466-424-2.
    • DECCA.
    • 2.
  • George Gershwin

    Somebody Loves Me

    Singer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Orchestra: New Princess Theatre Orchestra. Conductor: John McGlinn.
    • WARNER CLASSICS : 7474542.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.
    • 1.
  • George Gershwin

    Suite from Blue Monday arr. Jeanneau (1st & 2nd mvts)

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque.
    • EMI : CDC7-49752-2.
    • EMI.
    • 10.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Little Prelude No 2 in D minor, BWV 940

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • J.S. Bach, The French Suites: Angela Hewitt.
    • Hyperion.
    • 8.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Little Prelude No 3 in E minor, BWV 941

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • J.S. Bach, The French Suites: Angela Hewitt.
    • Hyperion.
    • 9.

Broadcast

  • Mon 26 Jun 2023 12:00

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