Organization

Conductor

Leonard Bernstein

Orchestra

New York Philharmonic

Gershwin, An American in Paris

London

United Kingdom

Royal Albert Hall

George Gershwin was 29 when he received his second commission for an orchestral work to be premiered by Walter Damrosch's New York Symphony Society. The young composer had already caused a stir in the symphonic world with his Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto. In March 1928 he went on another trip to Europe; he had the drafts for the new symphonic work with him. Returning to New York, he completed its orchestration on November 18 of the same year, less than a month before the scheduled premiere. Gershwin himself described the intention of his new composition as follows: "This new piece - actually a ballet rhapsody - is a very free composition and the most modern music I have ever attempted. The introduction is typically French, in the style of Debussy and the Six, but the themes are all original and not imitated. I would like to convey here the impression of an American visitor to Paris, as he strolls through the streets, listening to all sorts of sounds and absorbing the typical atmosphere of this unique city."
Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin - both inextricably linked to America - represent an unbeatable team here with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Gershwin was one of the American composers who Bernstein not only admired ardently, but also great ones alongside Mahler, Copland and Blitzstein influenced his compositional work. For example, in his Harvard University thesis, Bernstein argued that Gershwin and Copland created a national style of music by creatively incorporating jazz and Latin American elements into their works. When Bernstein's musical "On the Town" premiered in 1944, one critic described the work as a "dynamic mixture of Stravinsky and Gershwin". If someone Gershwins alive,

Gershwin, An American in Paris by Various, From (1976/1976), Conductor Leonard Bernstein, Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

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