Melting Pot
Donald Macleod explores the early life of George Gershwin, the composer of the American βmelting potβ.
Donald Macleod explores the early life of George Gershwin, the composer of the American βmelting potβ.
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 β 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 βmelting potβ β and his bridging the outmoded gulf between high and low culture.
Rhapsody in Blue
Jean Yves Thibaudet, piano
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Letβs 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
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Music Played
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George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue
Performer: JeanβYves Thibaudet. Orchestra: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.- DECCA 478 2189.
- Decca.
- 1.
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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.
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George Gershwin
Swanee
Performer: Frank Braley.- HARMONIA MUNDI : HMG-501883.
- Harmonia Mundi.
- 14.
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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 Εmietana. Performer: David Heath. Performer: Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska. -
George Gershwin
Lullaby
Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.- DECCA : 466-424-2.
- DECCA.
- 2.
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George Gershwin
Somebody Loves Me
Singer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Orchestra: New Princess Theatre Orchestra. Conductor: John McGlinn.- WARNER CLASSICS : 7474542.
- WARNER CLASSICS.
- 1.
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George Gershwin
Suite from Blue Monday arr. Jeanneau (1st & 2nd mvts)
Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque.- EMI : CDC7-49752-2.
- EMI.
- 10.
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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.
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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 12:00ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
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