Gershwin plays I Got Rhythm (1931, 3 camera views) 

Such a loss. I just finished a short book called, "George Gershwin: An intimate portrait", that is fascinating. He was a remarkable talent.

So sad.

Sad.

Almost 39 YO, 1898-1937

I thought he died at 39

Exactly. I rencently worked up his Prelude 1 for piano and it was definitely one of the hardest pieces Ive ever played.

We wuz ROBBED! 🎵 😭

And not just songs.Im convinced that had Gershwin lived a long full life he would have been America's leading composer of Songs, Symphonies,Operas, Concertos and Chamber Music.No question about that.

@@ianaspinall3234 Absolutely. There really is NO TELLING how much we could have gotten from GG had he lived....even just 10 more years. Another Opera......more Broadway...or movies....AT some point....a Symphony would have HAD to happen.

@@maestroclassico5801 I'm sure it would have done.I did read in a book that not long before Gershwin became ill in Hollywood he was talking about returning to New York to work on a possible Opera of The Great Gatsby.Now that would have been something had he lived to write it.

life isn't fair...he died of a malignant brain tumor. So goes to show....even young people die

Yeah, his untimely death was/is so sad

Agreeeeeeddddd

In one of Bartok's Mikrokosmos pieces his notes say play one of them "like Gershwin" - so he knew this also.

You are absolutely RIGHT!

so funny to hear how many pianists play in BLUE note perfect; all they had to do was thump the notes out

@@interglossa which one?

They are the "thumbs down to everything club". Members compete with each other to diss as many videos in 24 hours as possible. They get everywhere - like cockroaches. Of course, this means they never have time to actually listen to anything, but that's not the point. Best to ignore them.

@@cliffhughes6010 yeah

@@cliffhughes6010 or maybe they just hate ragtime or the way that he got up in the end? Idk I personally liked it but tryna think about anything ppl might not like

60

or any understanding of artistry

Plays everything just a tad faster than anyone else.

You should listen to early Ben Folds! He smashed the piano like he had a vendetta against it.

I agree but don't call it a "song" please :)

Rhapsody In Blue is not a song.

I think a tin-pan alley sound

That's Stride, man!

They take the soul out of everything these days.

Yes now only if the piano was just slightly out of tune we would get the real bar room effect.

@@jpaul251 With technique like that, it would be epic. Gershwin and Roosevelt Sykes

That was an era where if you wanted to be considered a great pianist, you needed a strong left hand for the popular stride style back then.

He was 38 when he died to be correct about it.

Talent and skill are different things. Everyone has talent, the skill is to develop it through practice. If you don't practice, then you waste your talent. 'God' is the excuse given by those who're too lazy, dishonest and ill-disciplined to practice.

Nope. Genes plus dedication.

@@dicty2 which obviously explains your genius.

HA!

Gershwin was 38 when he died to be precise. No I am not splitting hairs on the issue, just a correction to be fair about it.

Best composer of all time? I don't mean to get into an argument, but maybe try listening to the works of Mozart, Bach, Chopin, and Ravel...

@@KristianWolfe or Beethoven?

Also my first time and Wow!!!!

Yes. It is the most gut-wrenching, soul-stirring, life-affirming song ever written. And number two is probably "I Loves You, Porgy".

Me too, so can I say that he's the man I love ?

Me too, so can I say he's the man I love ?

He appeared in a few movies.

O

@@jimcrawford5039 Levant did but Gershwin didn't.

I mean it’s his piece haha. He can do whatever he wants with it. Also, piano rolls probably had very limited space, so it might have needed to be recorded quicker just to make sure everything gets on it.

@@jonathanm.9801 Hey...Agreed! He can leave out notes however he wants but yes the digitally remastered piano roll recordings....which can be found here on YT, are quite a listen!

@@jonathanm.9801 You are actually right about at least one of the two Duo-Art rolls (it was in two parts) of the "Rhapsody". There was so much music required to be crammed on that roll, that editor/arranger Frank Milne had quite a task, working from Gershwin's original performance. Several roll collectors / enthusiasts have actually complained that the level of rhythmic detail in one of those two rolls is lacking, due to this kind of "cramming" requiring a slower roll tempo / paper speed. IMO Aeolian should have instead made this a three-roll or four-roll set, instead of two rolls. But the piece was brand-new at the time and no one was yet sure if it would be a success, when the first roll was released. After a few years it was apparent that it was indeed a success, so they brought out the second roll (I think that was the 'crammed' one). If you want to hear Gershwin's real tempo and touch, check out the two recordings of the 'Rhapsody' (the 1924 acoustic recording, and I think the 1927 electric recording) with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, featuring Gershwin himself at the piano. IMO those are the best document of this piece. The rolls are very nice however.

One good thing about the "Rhapsody" being on the Duo-Art reproducing piano system is that it's more or less a binary-type expression system that works very quickly with (to my knowledge) no "crescendo" effect in the system. So it is fairly faithful with a wider range of chosen tempos for the roll playback. This is to contrast with the Welte system, which is all crescendos and decrescendos, and the Ampico system which has a mix of both elements. In the systems with crescendo functions in the expression, the roll has to be set at JUST the right speed (and the piano in good shape / timing checked by a technician before a serious recording is made), since when the roll tells the piano to get louder or softer (slowly or quickly), it has to do so at a predictable speed. If the tempo of the roll is set too fast or slow for a Welte or Ampico (or certain other systems), the expression (whose timing happens at a couple of fixed speeds), will "land" on the correct dynamic at the WRONG time, so that the WRONG notes will be too loud or too soft due to the roll timing (notes) being off from the expression timing. With Duo-Art, within reason, the roll can be sped up or slowed down and as long as everything is in good working order and working rapidly, the expression can still keep up with the timing of the notes so that the correct notes get the correct dynamics. This is actually why the early Red Welte system has NO tempo lever... all rolls play at a fixed factory-determined paper speed to ensure that the timing of the expression doesn't get away from the timing of the notes. So, different tempos chosen by the artist show up MORE as different note lengths / spacings in the Welte rolls than in many later systems where they will ask the user to set a particular roll tempo (paper speed) and then have the timing of the expression adjusted by the person arranging the expression tracks (on the master roll at the factory), to match that paper speed. By contrast, the Duo-Art system has the most extensive hand-controls for hand expression of any major reproducing system, so you can turn off the Duo-Art expression and also put your own interpretation into the roll, like a regular 88-note piano.

the poor clarinetist!

Interesting comment. I wonder if the pianist you quoted was Oscar Levant? He was a friend of Gershwin’s and a famous interpreter of his music. He was also extremely neurotic and hilariously funny. Watch some of his appearances with Jack Paar on the Tonight Show. 😎🎹

I dont care about the famous pianists poor opinion of Gershwins interpretation of his own music...my ears tell me the opposite and I beg to differ.....