George Gershwin - "An American in Paris" - Andrè Previn To support my work of rediscovering and sharing unknown and unreleased music you can make a very welcome donation at the following link 😉 paypal.me/Ales... or ko-fi.com/ales...
My parents were dissatisfied with my decision to become a music major but how could they have expected any different when they exposed me to brilliant composers like Gershwin all my life
@@jesshinkle1 not really. Not at the level of a V.P. in a major corporation, not even close to a CEO... of course, unless you are a rockstar or pop singer. Otherwise, you are a part time in a small orchestra like San Antonio chamber orchestra or something.
Is it possible that this is even more of a masterpiece than Rhapsody in Blue? This makes you feel like you are walking through life not just Paris. Rhapsody in Blue makes you think. This makes you float.
its better, it has more form and a plot,, also the instrument arrangement for the orchestra is properly defined and simplified. most eurocentric critics of his day that were negative toward rhapsody in blue had neutral or slightly positive reviews
I can only imagine how dumb struck the audience must’ve felt hearing this for the first time the 1920s. Absolute magic and brilliance came forth from this man and to die at such a young age is such a tragedy. If he would’ve lived into his 80s he easily would’ve been the greatest composer of all time. Gershwin‘s music transported you to places you couldn’t even dream of. Rhapsody in blue is a roller coaster ride of emotion, and an American in Paris perfectly identifies the emotion. One would feel walking the streets in Paris. The hustle the bustle the energy. Simply amazing. I learned to play piano because of this man. I heard Rhapsody in blue for the first time when I was about five and I was obsessed with learning to play this magnificent piece. it took me 16 years to learn how to play Rhapsody in blue without mistakes and in the correct time signature. I’m in my 60’s today and can still mail it, every time. George Gershwin, a genius way ahead of his time and one of the best composers ever to have lived.
For some, Sebastian Vettel or George Clooney is a hero. I'm 14 years old and for me George Gershwin is a real hero. A man who composes music with so many different color tones, is really something special! Every time I listen to his music, I get goosebumps and I mostly just sit there and grin to myself :) I am happy! ... I also admire the orchestra, which plays the music with so much feeling!! George, you and the orchestra are admirable!!!!!!!! Thumbs up if you agree
"NARRATOR". Perfect description of many composers, especially GW and Copeland. You gave me the word I didn't know for which I was searching the past 65yrs. or so. Thanks Kevin!
That's a great choice of words to describe him. I never heard him called a narrator before but it's the perfect one word description. It's a shame that he died so young. Think of what more he might have produced.
+Volnei Silva I am. The first time I heard this music I didn't know its title but I imagined it had something to do with old-fashioned America. I was attending primary school in Italy.
+Volnei Silva Actually, it sounded to me like a 1950s American ad or something similar. Consider that I've never been to the US and I unfortunately have a very stereotypical idea of it.
lol Me too. North america especially the U S has a big history in classical music. Stravinsky, Puccini, Tchaikovsky are only 3 examples of famous composers who visited the united states. Tchaikovsky participated in the ceremonies surrounding the dedication and opening of New York’s Carnegie Hall.
My God. And he only lived till age 39?!? Can you imagine what music could've come out of that brilliant mind if he had lived like some composers to say, 80 or 90?
He wrote this when he was 29, so he still offered plenty after, though I feel it's the pinnacle of his work. The piece he wrote with what he felt was the best orchestration is Second Rhapsosy, which was very late in his life. Check it out.
Played this 7 years ago on the trumpet as a part of my high school. Saw a friend who I was in band with ( he played clarinet) today post on his Instagram he was landing in Paris. Instantly reminded me of this and I came here to listen. Memories I’ll never forget ❤️
An absolutely perfect masterpiece. Gershwing is and always be a favorite composer. Gershwing is like Chopin, both were short lived, but their music is brilliant. George Gershwing was a genus...
This piece was composed during the Prohibition in the US when lots of Americans who could went to Paris to enjoy life and... drink a lot. Compared with the Puritan atmosphere of America and its claustrophobic speakeasies Paris seemed like an oasis of freedom and excitement. That's the vibration this composition brings us.
Having been an American in Paris, this music speaks to the wonder and amazement you feel when you walk the streets of that amazing city. I can't believe how well the music tells the story.
That's interesting to read. This music was composed in 1928; it's the sensory experiences of an American visitor at the time, put to music. Much has changed since then, the culture has been through decades of shifting and unfolding; that you have the same impressions as Gershwin suggests that there is an essential character to the French people that endures even over so much time.
2:43 is possibly my favorite part of the piece for 2 reasons. 1. Its a beautiful flute solo, and 2. I can just imagine a young man frantically walking through the crowded streets of Paris, and then bumping into a young woman dressed in a full skirt and rosy cheeks and hair in perfect ringlets who gives him a sweet smile... the imagery he manages to create within this music is amazing!
I'm a Chinese from Hong Kong and live California now.Many many years ago (maybe 20 or 30 years ago ),I listen its theme (7:45 )occasional and love it immediately . It's true there is no gap in our world with music wherever we living.
I am hypnotized by this song as I am by Rhapsody In Blue. When I drive, I listen to these. Gershwin was brilliant! I’m sorry he died so young suffered so much the last months of his life.
What a true genius. I lack the ability to describe how much this man’s music fills me. No doubt the best American composer of all time. Please know I still love you both Mr. Copland and Mr. Sousa.
I had the great pleasure of having my father and my mother for a long time. I loved and love them sooo much. They passed away in 2017, my mother and in 2018, my father. My dear mother being so loving and caring and my dear father showing me this kind of music and other: mexican music, other latin american music, european classical and modern music. Indian music, Midle east music, US music like jazz, soul, etc. And also these classicals of the XXth century. This Gershwin's master piece was and is one of my favorites ones since I was about 5 years old. Each time I listen to eat I remember my times as a very little girl imagining the trafic of a big city. Thank you very much for posting IT.
I remember as a young child my father put this track on and instructed me to use the music as inspiration to create images in my mind. I understood how to use the music as a different source of visual aid created by sound. It helped me appreciate and understand the true meaning of what music dose to the soul. it's a form of universal language that creates emotions through sound that everyone at one point experiences. thank you Mr Gershwin!!!
beautifully captures the 1920s atmosphere of a bustling city and someone feeling lost in it as car horns beep them at every turn telling them to get out the way as they wander dumbfoundedly along.
Im 54 and Ive had the same reaction to Gershwin since I was 14! Imagine all the tones and hues...all the clever phrasing and innuendo...subtle and masterful.
This was the first all instrumental track that left me completely speechless. Such beautiful sounds...and Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron's dancing adds an intimate and romantic factor that no one else could have brought to such a lovely piece of art. One word for this piece? Breathtaking.
+Daniel Madsø i love hearing Judy Garland sing his songs! It's so much better than what we have today. lol when did music take such a big turn for the worse?
My second favorite piece of music. Still have it on the opposite side of Rapsody In Blue, my favorite piece. First heard them both at a children's concert while a 4th or 5th grader. Dad bought it per my begging as one of his monthly Columbia Record Club selection. Now 70 y.o. and still have the LP and all the memories it conjures up - the concert, the Columbia monthly selection notice, my begging my dad, the day the album was delivered, like it was filmed and it's playing on the screen in front of me.
Where does such genius come from...why are there people like George and Ira Gershwin who posses such talent while most of us can only appreciate it? God only knows.....
I loved this as a teenage and I love this now. My 83 year old mom with alzheimer's responds to this- it's a story, it's a world she can really seems to get absorbed in. It's so good it just exists. I don't know how else to say it. It was just meant to be somehow!
Gershwin knocked it out of the park with this magnificent composition at seven minutes going into it is where starts to really to get to me! It's got to be the best song ever written. Bravo!
Brilliant! My father had diverse musical taste. At Nine years old I would ask him to play this, I was captivated by this song. Even at that age I guess I understood what great music sounded like.
I've seen a few comments like these, and I can relate. When I was a child my father used to play this while he stole Sidewinder missiles from the Bratislavian Airforce and painted geese in politically incorrect colour schemes.
Just imagine an American walking in Paris in those days, a new town, the strange and sometimes busy streets, diversity of scenes, romance...scary streets..so divers. And in the end a big finale as you are at the end of a film or musical you made by yourself just by imagening pictures by the the music you hear. Great piece of art!!!
hear the ORIGINAL performance 1929 NAT SHILKRET conductor) Victor Symphony Orchestra and Arthur Fiedler (Boston Pops Orchestra), which is very similar to the older performance (and based on it?)
The percussion is what makes this a master piece. And that includes the various instruments, that he attempts to make percussionistic as well. Absolutely Brilliant Composition.
Gershwin, is masterful, extra-solidarity; It transcends all epochs. In his short life he brought to the music a brilliance and fascination like few others. Brilliant, fascinating, beautiful, charming, subjugate ... Many extraordinary words can be said to describe Gershwin's music but only one is enough: GREAT.
Beautiful music, Gershwin always impresses me ! So many different instruments, this music is filled with joy and positive energy, really quite amazing.
An absolute perfect masterpiece. Gershwin is and will always be my most favorite composer. This and the Rhapsody in Blue are mindbogglingly phenomenal.
+Lorraine Cheung based on some of the things that your country has produced, like Donald trump and slavery, I don't think that America is optimistic or glamorous
+Zac Ellis We also produced the *affordable* automobile, the Airplane, the Global Positioning System, or GPS, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (which is more and more being adapted for emergency services and rescue work), the Internet, Cellular Networks, the Telephone, and, of course, the Light Bulb.
+Logan Mainord just some of the essential things produced in ENGLAND Mass-produced toothbrush - William Addis of England produced the first mass-produced toothbrush in 1780 Perambulator - William Kent designed a baby carriage in 1733 Collapsible baby buggy - Owen Maclaren Domestic dishwasher - key modifications by William Howard Livens "Bagless" vacuum cleaner - James Dyson "Puffing Billy" - First powered vacuum cleaner - Hubert Cecil Booth Fire extinguisher - George William Manby Folding carton - Charles Henry FoyleLawn mower - Edwin Beard Budding Rubber band - Stephen Perry Daniell cell - John Frederic Daniell First incandescent light bulb - Joseph Wilson Swan in 1878.Tin can - Peter Durand Light switch - Invented by John Holmes in 1884 Corkscrew - Reverend Samuell Henshall Mouse trap - James Henry Atkinson Postage stamp - Rowland Hill Modern flushing toilet - John Harington The pay toilet - John Nevil Maskelyne, Maskelyne invented a lock for London toilets, which required a penny to operate, hence the euphemism "spend a penny". Electric toaster - Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton Teasmade - Albert E. Richardson Magnifying glass - Roger Bacon Thermosiphon, which forms the basis of most modern central heating systems - Thomas Fowler Automatic electric kettle - Russell Hobbs Coade stone - Eleanor Coade English crucible steel - Benjamin Huntsman Steel production Bessemer process - Henry Bessemer Hydraulic press - Joseph Bramah Parkesine, the first man-made plastic - Alexander Parkes Portland cement - Joseph Aspdin Sheffield plate - Thomas Boulsover Water frame - Richard Arkwright Stainless steel - Harry Brearley Rubber Masticator - Thomas Hancock Power Loom - Edmund Cartwright Parkes process - Alexander Parkes Lead chamber process - John Roebuck Development of the world's first commercially successful manufacture of high quality flat glass using the float glass process - Alastair Pilkington Pioneers of the Industrial Revolution - Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Abraham Darby I - Abraham Darby II - Abraham Darby III - Robert Forester Mushet The first commercial electroplating process - George Elkington The Wilson Yarn Clearer - Peter Wilson Polythene - the first industrially practical polythene was discovered by accident in 1933 in Northwich, Cheshire, by Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson. And most importantly, you may have invented the internet, but Tim Berners-Lee (OF ENGLAND) invented the world wide web, which is what you use to surf the internet.
+Zac Ellis Ok, we can all agree that no one likes Donald Trump. But it was the English who started slavery. The settlers that first started it in Jamestown were English, and were not intent of starting a new country. But I agree, sadly we have Donald Trump... :(
+John F (Uppish) technically slavery started in places like ancient china and ancient rome, so I can't let you get away with that, but at least we both agree that Donald Trump is an exception to the rule that every human has evolved from cavemen. Donald Trump is still a caveman.
where, may I ask, may one acquire a tape player these days? I'm assuming you mean cassette, as I don't believe 8-track could be burnt like a CD or Cassette.
I just finished playing this piece throughout separate that consisted of about 10 performances of this piece, the last being in the Iowa All-State Orchestra, airing on Iowa Public Television. I love this piece with all of my heart, and it will hold a special place in my heart. Plus it's funky.
Julien Marx that Song writer Megan Porter Bass all about "bass" ha very funny & so many people redone it to get more laugh Songs 'Ehh' bass no trebble.
One of the best composers ever, how sad he left us at such an early age. I love this wonderful piece of music it's one of my favourites that he wrote. Thank you for posting this.
I remember being a lad of 17 yrs in HS history class, during study time we were permitted to listen to music of our choosing in our headphones, this was my preferred study music. Lots of good memories I associate with Gershwin.
One thing has always had me thinking,about the composition,is the absence of piano?However Gershwin,was the composer,and i guess he was correct,such a fantastic piece . Happy listening.
