Page 65 - GTMF 2024 Season Program

July 5 & 6
PROGRAM NOTES

(What other piano concerto
includes an extended solo for
the harp?) It is in the slow
movement, an extended slow
waltz for piano with delicate
orchestral coloring, that the true
heart of the concerto is to be
found. Its spun-out lyrical line
might sound natural and even
spontaneous, but in fact it caused
Ravel no end of trouble; he
reported having eked it out a
measure or two at a time, painfully,
and that it came close to bringing
him to despair. However, pain is
temporary and music is forever.
The exquisite Adagio was
eventually completed and
remains for all time as one of
Ravel’s most noble and perfectly
polished achievements. After
such a journey, nothing much
left remains to be said, and Ravel
was wise enough not to try. The
oh-so-brief finale is nothing less
than an irresistible romp, funny,
brilliant and insouciant. Ravel
originally planned to end the George Gershwin — Library of Congress
concerto with a series of soft
trills, but fortunately he changed
his mind. A solid thwack on the
bass drum brings the concerto to George Gershwin
a downright Hollywood-ish close,
big, brassy and bravura. Rhapsody in Blue

AT A GLANCE Only serendipity saved Paul
Whiteman’s 1924 experimental/
Born: 1898 pedagogical Aeolian Hall concert
Died: 1937 from becoming yet another
Date of Composition: 1924 instance of a certain well-known
road paved with good intentions.
Instrumentation: Rhapsody It was long, it was boring, it
in Blue, in its full orchestral was pretentious. The pieces all
version, is scored for 2 flutes, sounded alike. The ventilation
2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, system was on the fritz.
2 bassoons, 3 saxophones, The aforesaid serendipity
3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones,
tuba, percussion, strings and arrived with George Gershwin,
second-to-last on the bill, and his
solo piano.

Summer 2024 gtmf.org 63