Rhapsody In Blue Centennial Celebration at UNCA Lipensky Auditorium
It was a beautiful afternoon on Feb. 4, 2024, and the concert-goers navigated entry detours to a back entrance leading to Limpinsky Auditorium… the concert began on time, and the Conductor and orchestra got rousing welcomes from the audience.
The original 1924 “Experiment in Modern Music” concert debuted Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” combining jazz and classical music in a uniquely American way. One hundred years later, talented UNC Asheville faculty and esteemed local musicians will unite in an “Ashevillean” spirit of musical experimentation. This 2023-2024 UNCA Loves Piano concert series highlight features a full orchestra, jazz combo, and distinguished soloists and conductors.
In the first set, several pieces from the 1924 concert will be recreated note-for-note under the direction of Asheville’s “godfather of jazz” Russ Wilson. The piano part in “Rhapsody” was played by UNC Asheville music lecturer Hwa-Jin Kim.
The 1924 concert at Aeolian Hall was a groundbreaking event. Paul Whiteman had commissioned Geroge Gershwin to compose a piece combining classical and jazz elements. Jazz had taken a back seat to classical music up until then, but Whiteman’s commission changed that.
Hastily composed by George Gershwin in 1924, Rhapsody in Blue fuses elements of classical and jazz music. Bandleader Paul Whiteman commissioned it for a concert titled “An Experiment in Modern Music,” held at Aeolian Hall in New York City on February 12, 1924. Whiteman’s band performed the rhapsody with Gershwin at the piano.
The piece has been arranged multiple times over the years by Whiteman’s orchestrator Ferde Grofé, including the original 1924 scoring, a 1926 theater orchestra version, and a 1942 symphonic arrangement.
Much of the work’s meteoric success can be attributed to the orchestral artistry of Ferde Grofé. As Paul Whiteman’s principal arranger, Grofé masterfully scored the Rhapsody for full orchestra in the 1924 premiere performance. His subsequent arrangements further cemented the composition’s popularity. Most iconic is Grofé’s brilliant 1942 orchestration, which opens with a now legendary glissando flourish of clarinet notes that immediately sweeps listeners into the Rhapsody’s expressive sonic landscape. That unforgettable clarinet wail, contrasted by the piano’s swift bluesy response, embedded itself into the American psyche.
