FIRST TIME HEARING Yuja Wang & Wiener Philharmoniker - Rhapsody in Blue | REACTION 

I LOVE the,little grin on her face! How wonderful to be having such fun performing this demanding piece! Total mastery of her instrument.

And George Gershwin wrote this masterpiece at age 25! He was quite the serial dater in his day and what an ego. There's an old story about a first date where Gershwin went on and on and on about his compositions. Then he said something to the effect of "Enough about me. What do you think of my music?" He was one of a kind, gone too young. He left us so much to enjoy.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel of the LA Philharmonic is legendary & a delight to watch. 💜💜💜

Sal, The musicians know when to come in because they 1) have sheet music 2) have practiced it many, many times 3) have a conductor.

Oh WOW: NEVER did I expect to see this piece of music on ANY reaction channel! Man…this used to be part of the collective cultural consciousness of Americans…..as a kid in the 50’s, I heard it so much. Ice- Capades shows….as the music for a skating routine at the Olympics ……on TV….For many people, probably one of the few times they actually heard and appreciated orchestral music, outside of movie soundtracks. Wow…what a classic piece of music.

Sheet music is like a book….and when you’ve learned how to read it, it tells the musicians exactly what to do and when. Then, the conductor can put their own stamp on it by drawing out certain phrasing ans accents from the musicians.

Did you notice that members of the orchestra have sheet music in front of them but Yuja Wang doesn't! She is phenomenal!

Thank you to the person who requested this & to you who for being willing to play it! I loved it! I’ve never seen it live! She was incredible on that piano. I’m glad I was already subscribed to you so I saw this come up!💜💜💜

I had the privelege years ago to hear a video recording of Ira Gershwin doing this work in a memorial concert for his brother after he passed. So emotionally touching.

Yuja is amazing. Thank you Bob from Patreon!

Gershwin's masterpiece performed by virtuoso musicians.

I love the joy on Ms. Wang's face. Hard not to smile just seeing her smile. I don't mean this in an insulting way at all, but it's a very child-like joy: pure and free of the cynicism that we too often develop as we age.

One place that you may have heard snippets of this piece was in the same place that I learned much of my classical music: cartoons. This piece was used a lot in cartoons made in the 1940's and was used a lot in busy city street scenes. This is a wonderful performance of this very difficult piece. Thank you for reacting to music that most reactors wouldn't touch.

One of the greatest orchestral pieces of the 20th century, bridging the gap from jazz and classical. It always brings images of old New York to mind. If you enjoyed this, try Gershwin's other great orchestral piece, "An American in Paris". Gershwin was legendary. Wrote a host of popular songs that are still sung today as well (many of them with lyrics by his brother Ira), and also the opera "Porgy and Bess". He died far too young, aged only 38. PS - Wiener (the Austrian name for Vienna) is pronounced "VEE-ner". Loved seeing how much Yuja Wang was enjoying herself - you could feel the music flowing through her!

This was the first piece of concert hall music that caught my attention when I was a teenager. I have been listening to it ever since and more and more over the last 30 years. I keep my radio on KUSC.

Yuja Wang kills every time she performs! Her performance of Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 2" is to die for. After that, listen to her play Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini".

There is a movie, “Rhapsody in Blue” with Robert Alda (from MASH fame, Alan Alda’s Dad) as Gershwin…worthy watch, from the early ‘40’s… I always start listening and immediately think of NYC at dawn, newspaper trucks and milkmen, subways starting to fill, taxis racing up Broadway…this is a masterpiece. And this pianist is spectacular!

The pianist is VERY good!

I freaking Love this kinda music...so uplifting ❤❤

Omg. That was amazing. I love Gershwin. My favorite piece of classical Americana. I first heard this at age 12. Beautiful piece. Thank you so much for reacting to a classic. You amaze me. Wonderful reaction. Next song you do, I'd like to hear more of our favorite trio. Thanks Salvo

She really found the humour in this piece.

I would like to recommend reacting to "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield, specifically the 1973 BBC broadcast version. While most people only know the opening, which was used as the theme for _The Exorcist_ , that is just one part of a much longer piece with a lot of highs and lows. My only caveat is that it it 25 minutes long, which may be too much for a reaction video.

Did everyone notice that Ms Wang is not only thoroughly enjoying herself but she’s also doing this without any music in front of her.

I can see and hear and taste New York City with every note.

One of my fave Gershwin music pieces - loved the version in Fantasia 2000 that was drawn in the style of Al Hirschfeld 🥰

This was recorded at the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna, every summer the Vienna Philharmonic give a free performance in the garden of the palace, it is broadcast on PBS in the USA. The Philharmonic also performs a New Years Day concert that is shown on PBS on New Years Day.

Gershwin was an amazing talent. He wrote some of the most beloved popular songs of the early 20th century as well as some amazing classical/jazz compositions. "Rhapsody in Blue" feels to me like an American answer to Rachmaninoff's piano compositions. And in turn European classical music composers jazzed up some of their compositions. FUN STUFF!

That's the 18th century Summer Palace in Vienna, known as Schonbrunn.

I love virtually all genres of music, but this piece of music is one of my favorites ever and every note is burned into my memory. This is a very good rendition, but I thought the pianist put a bit too much of her own spin on her sections, IMO, although she did very well and I enjoyed most of her playing. However, I still think the classic, Leonard Bernstein studio version is the definitive version and his piano playing in the live video version is incredible. Still, any reaction to Rhapsody In Blue is very welcome, and I enjoyed this one very much.

I had to get an MRI. They wanted to know what music I would like to listen to during the procedure. This was my choice. One reason was that I was reasonably familiar with the piece. Another reason was that United Airlines used it in their advertising. And I truly liked the music. And it had a good beat and you could dance to it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

When I first heard this as a kid, I thought this was a train journey from New York (I'd not been there before). The beginning just had the feel of a big city in the morning, a rush to the train station and then the train leaving and passing through the suburbs.

Disney animators did a great version to this in 2000 Famtsia as one of the peices.

She’s Nodame Cantabile irl

A true "American" Classic

John Petrucci, who is the guitarist from Dream Theater has a sideband called Liquid Tension Experiment . They have a version of this song you might find interesting

My favorite all time piece of misic... a composer Zubrin Mata did an album of Gershwin's music that I had and played the grooves off of.......

You have discovered the music of George Gershwin, one of America's greatest songwriters whose music is an integral part of the American Songbook. The American Songbook would make an interesting, educative, and absolutely entertaining musical project to explore. A "Rhapsody" is a piece of music with several distinctly separate and seemingly unrelated interludes woven together to make a grand piece of music. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is one such example.

my favorite is Fedrick Fennel Eastman Orchestra on Mercury Living Presence.

What an audacious piece of music! Imagine how shocked audiences must have been when it was first performed.

I gfew up with this, The Hayden Planetarium,Sky show used the, "Evening" theme at the dimming of the lights. The song has always represented, for me, New York City. Grand and Mysterious. and Beautiful,

I've heard it described ed as a full day in NY city from dawn till dusk....

You most likely heard it in a) a Bugs Bunny cartoon, or b) A fireworks display, especially the one aired on the 4th of July from Washington D.C.

I would love you to react to Streisand’s “People” from early TV clips. Totally enlightening!

Perhaps the opening scenes of the Woody Allen film "Manhattan"? a day in the life of New York City,von Morgengrau bis zum Daemmerschein

14;07 my favorite part.

You've gotta hear this by the Annie Moses band

Try ACDC Crabsody in Blue

What an odd orchestra and pianist choice for this repertoire. Don't get me wrong, they are both excellent. I would have chosen an American orchestra and soloist; pretty sure there are performances by somebody like Leonard Bernstein (conducting from the piano) and the New York Phil (I think it's the NY Phil, or is it L.A.) More in their wheelhouse. More idiomatic.) I absolutely love Yuja in a ton of stuff. This was not a great fit for her, IMO. And I'm not saying that European orchestras can't play American music, etc. Edit: found it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cH2PH0auTUU.html

This is an extremely athletic piece to play and many pianists run out of gas about 3/4 through. Ms. Wang is a freakin animal all the way to the end of this!!...and, it's near the end of a long concert! Not only pretty, but an athlete too!!

Orchestra leader Paul Whiteman finessed Gershwin into taking the commission to write this for a program that had already been scheduled, in five weeks' time. He wrote it over the course of two and a half weeks, then handed it off to the orchestra's arranger (Ferde Grofé, who would go on to compose "Grand Canyon Suite") who spent 10 days charting it -- deciding what musician will play which notes, when and writing all those notes down as sheet music -- leaving only eight rehearsal days until the debut.

Probably the greatest piece of music by an American composer to date. A brilliant piece with such vigor and zest and yet interjected with moments of wistful melancholy. One of one of my all-time favorites, just behind Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

In the 1920's Gershwin was challenged to write a jazz concerto. This is it, and it became one of the most beloved pieces of 20th-Century music produced. It is amazing how he blended classical and jazz elements into a single piece, not to mention the virtuoso piano part that he created. He was a true musical genius, and was a very young man at this time. Another piece of his is An American in Paris, his musical impressions of the street scene in Paris in the early 1900s.

The 1st time I heard this was in Walt Disney’s Fantasia 2000 & it has a 12 minute animated sequence to this piece in the style of 1930s newspaper cartoonist, Al Hirschfeld. I think you’d really enjoy watching it! 😊

United Airlines used this song in a commercial. I personally cannot hear this without thinking of 1920's New York. Beautiful piece!

Some music lovers who just listened to this and this is not their cup of tea, continued to listen it to the end because they were totally captivated by the classic chorus of the Rhapsody and the extraordinary sound of every musical instrument in the orchestra and the unreal performance by the wonderful piano player. And, as the moment came to the end I thought the conductor was about to jump out of his shoes he was so thrilled with the overall performance. Yes, Page one of the American Song Book. George Gershwin did many more wonderful pieces of music and all of them are great listens. Thanks, Salvo, for stirring the music pot a bit. It was fun and I wonder how many listeners were shocked by what they just heard?

This and Sing, Sing, Sing by The Benny Goodman Orchestra are the quintessential American instrumentals.

A musical masterpiece, but this not the best rendition I have heard.

I prefer a less frenetic pace, but in listening to actual recordings of Gershwin HIMSELF playing piano, the almost crazy tempo is what he was going for!

This was written as a way of making the life of New York City be on display in music. It begins with a single person awake and move on through the stages of a day on into the evening. With this insight suddenly you hear the rush of cars, the push carts with food and wares, the children off to school the wave of passionate exchanges, the onrush of trains and the workers all in process of living out their day.

the composer also wrote the piece that Janis Joplin sang Summertime

This piece is a total cardio workout and fiendish to memorize. Kudos!

My favorite piece of music to relax to with a glass of white wine. It was in Woody Allen's movie "Manhattan".

If snatches of this sound somewhat familiar to you, they should... on your Patreon, we just watched a movie where all the music was by this man, Gershwin... An American In Paris. The long ballet at the end of that movie was the next major piece he composed after Rhapsody In Blue; the piece itself is also called An American In Paris. Rhapsody is his undisputed masterwork, though. This was wonderful (and marvelous...)

George Gershwin! Quintessential American Jazz married to the orchestra in a beautiful fusion. One of the monumental American great composers and Yuja Wang playing. I personally like and admire her theatrical playing, but there are many great versions out there. I believe the building in the background is the Schonbrunn Palace, summer residence of the Hapsburg emperors outside Vienna.

Pieces like this just take you on a journey. I just completely forgot about my day while listening.

The syncopation in this piece is what makes it so fun. The performers looked like they were enjoying themselves a lot. I have heard this piece all my life because my dad loves it, but I really loved watching it being performed. The pianist is amazing!! Another couple of greats in American composing: Scott Joplin and Aaron Copland.

Iconic. You have heard it before. It’s been used in many movies cartoons and advertisement’s. I played clarinet but could not do that iconic opening. So good.

My favorite piece of music ever. 💜💜💜

United Airlines used to use the opening in their commercial

if you find this type of music interesting might i suggest Belero by Revel it is quite a wonderful piece of music and was featured in the movie "10"

Yoja Wang is incredible.

If you want to see metal music and an orchestra mashup check out Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony performing "Enter Sandman" from 2020. It will blow your mind and you'll love it.

It's really fantastic to see you tackling orchestral music! "Rhapsody in Blue" has always been quite popular, and deservedly so. Yuja Wang (you pronounced that basically right) is one of the best pianists in the world right now. And the Weiner Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic) is about the best in the world. By the way, "Weiner" is pronounced "Veener" as all beginning W's are pronounced as V's in German. Buy you didn't do too bad with it! If you want to start getting into "Classical" (or orchestral) music and want a guide, hit me up with a message. That's what I teach at a local University.

You probably heard it as the soundtrack of a United Airline commercial.

The building is the Schonbrunn just outside Vienna. Have visited 😊

If you ever decide to give music like this a try again, listen to "Slaughter on 10th Avenue"

If you were older I would say Saturday morning cartoons .

You can't be a person alive in the world and not have heard some part of this.

The transition that starts at 14:07 brings tears to my eyes every single time I hear it.

This composition combined with the amazing performance show just how wondrous human potential can be.

Wow....this was great!

LOVE this piece! Amazing!

Probably one of the most recognizable melodic lines in music in Mid-20th century Western world.

The host doesn't seem to know who Yuja Wang is!! The world's greatest pianist, one of the musical wonders of the world. Sheeesh!

You recognize the melodic themes (and most Americans do, even if they are not familiar with George Gershwin or this great musical work of art) because of a series of TV commercials from United Airlines in the late 1980's and early 1990's. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Zgd6K2vi0wk.htmlsi=pvHl2en74a1d6WdW

Love Rhapsody in Blue!

An amazing piece of music. Love it

George Gershwin was an early 20th century jazz and Broadway musical composer (1920s to 1940s). This music was his attempt at "classical" music.

It is like a progressive rock piece......or should I say many Prog Rock works follow these 'classical' music forms? Musical themes, melodic development, and various sections. We get jazz rhythms, jazz chords, plus little surprises; and, a hummable melody. Gershwin is so good and so American. (and for her to memorize this whole thing is incredible)

Yuja Wang is the hottest piano super virtioso GOAT. Kudos to you and the requestor for taking on this brilliant composition. "Manhattan" (the movie) opens with this piece while the city's iconic skyline is revealed in black and white. What a score and great presentation!!

Vienna (Wiener)has some amazing musicians and orchestras. The singing competition which the von Trapp family entered in "The Sound of Music" took place there. Apparently George Gershwin wanted to show that American composers could write classical music just like Europeans.

There is YT video of Leonard Bernstein and New York Philharmonic Orchestra performing this wonderful composition. That is the one I usually watch. Also fun to watch this from movie of same name.

It's funny how towards the end of the video you just randomly mentioned the United audience. Maybe subconsciously you did remember that association.

This was so good! I've never heard her play before. Thanks Sal. I think you would like Andre Rieu too. All his shows are great but his Christmas in Maastricht is special! Also any of the Last Night At The Proms.

The building is the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, this being the Vienna Philharmonic ("Wien" is "Vienna" in German).

One of the most iconic pieces of music in my life --- a leitmotiv, so to speak --- since I "ran into it" at about 13 years of age. Wonderful that you took this suggestion, and what a great reaction! You obviously arrived at a different genre unless I missed something. All the very best from Germany

You definitely heard it before. This piece is also used in United Airlines commercial. Next you board on United you might hear it again LOL

If you want to see a unique version of this, check out harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler's version ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GjYmZKo5b4I.html When he played it for Gershwin, he said "the Goddam thing sounds as if I wrote it for you!"

So much going on in this classic piece of musical genius writing. Gershwin was just a name to me when I was just a little boy growing up in London after WW2. We had a wind up gramaphone to play vinal records on. The musical creation coming out of the vinal discs was sheer magic to me as a child. Set me up for life really with a love of music. This piece is the blues on steroids.