Sounds of America II: Rhapsody in Blue & West Side Story
Florence Price: Concerto in D minor in One Movement for Piano and Orchestra
Composer: born April 9, 1887, Little Rock, AR; died June 3, 1953, Chicago
Work composed: 1932-4. Dedicated to Helen Armstrong Andrews.
World premiere: Frederick Stock led the Chicago Symphony with Price at the piano in 1934
Instrumentation: solo piano, flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, bass drum, crash cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbal, and strings
Estimated duration: 18 minutes
The first female African-American composer to earn a national reputation, and to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, Florence Price enjoyed considerable renown during her lifetime. Sadly, both she and her music dropped into obscurity for decades after her death in 1953, due to the prevailing racism and sexism of the classical music establishment. In recent years, however, performers and audiences alike have begun to discover Price’s substantive body of work.
The daughter of a musical mother, Price was a prodigy, giving her first recital at age 4 and publishing her first composition at 11. During her childhood and teens, Price’s mother was the guiding force behind her piano and composition studies. Young Florence entered New England Conservatory in 1903, at 16, where she double majored in organ performance and piano pedagogy. While at NEC, Price also studied composition with George Whitefield Chadwick. Chadwick was an early champion of women as composers, which was highly unusual at the time, and he believed that American composers should incorporate the rich traditions of native American and “Negro” styles in their own works. Price, already inclined in this direction, was encouraged by Chadwick, and many of her works reflect the expressive and distinctive sounds of “Negro” traditions: spirituals, ragtime, and folkdance rhythms whose origins trace back to Africa.
In 1933, Frederick Stock, conductor of the Chicago Symphony, programmed Price’s Symphony in E minor, on a concert titled “The Negro in Music,” which was performed in conjunction with the Chicago World’s Fair. The following year, Stock asked Price to write a piano concerto, which she premiered with him and the Chicago Symphony.
Price’s musical style combines European late-Romantic aesthetics with folk and popular music from the Black tradition. The single movement of the concerto features three sections performed without breaks. It begins with slow introduction and a rhapsodic folk-like theme, in which the piano executes both the main melody and a dizzying display of virtuosic elaborations. In the quieter central section, we hear a more intimate facet of Price’s voice. The tonality shifts to D major; the piano presents a theme redolent of both blues and gospel hymns, while the orchestra provides understated accompaniment. The closing section features a juba, an up-tempo folk dance with strong ragtime elements, including a powerful left-hand stride piano bass line.
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Composer: born September 26, 1898, Brooklyn, NY; died July 11, 1937, Hollywood, CA
Work composed: Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Blue in the first three weeks of 1924.
World premiere: Gershwin was at the piano when Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra premiered Rhapsody in Blue at Aeolian Hall in New York on February 12, 1924.
Instrumentation: solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, gong, glockenspiel, snare drum, celesta, triangle, banjo, and strings.
Estimated duration: 15 minutes
Rhapsody in Blue occupies a special place in American music: it introduced jazz to classical music audiences, and simultaneously made an instant star of its composer. From its iconic opening clarinet glissando right through its brilliant finale, Rhapsody in Blue epitomizes the Gershwin sound, and transformed the 25-year-old songwriter from Tin Pan Alley into a composer of “serious” music.
The story of how Rhapsody in Blue came about is as engaging as the music itself. On January 4, 1924, Ira Gershwin showed George a news report in the New York Tribune about a concert put together by jazz bandleader Paul Whiteman, grandiosely titled “An Experiment in Modern Music,” that would endeavor to trace the history of jazz.
The report concluded with a brief announcement: “George Gershwin is at work on a jazz concerto.” This was certainly news to Gershwin, who was then in rehearsals for a Broadway show, Sweet Little Devil. Gershwin contacted Whiteman to refute the Tribune article, but Whiteman eventually talked Gershwin into writing the concerto. Whiteman also sweetened the deal by offering to have Ferde Grofé do the orchestrations. Gershwin agreed and completed Rhapsody in Blue in three weeks; he was also at the piano when Paul Whiteman and his Jazz Orchestra premiered Rhapsody in Blue at Aeolian Hall in New York City on February 12, 1924.
In 1931, Gershwin described to biographer Isaac Goldberg how the ideas for Rhapsody in Blue came to him during a train trip to Boston: “It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer – I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise … And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end … I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston I had a definite plot of the piece, as distinguished from its actual substance.”
At the premiere, Gershwin’s unique realization of this “musical kaleidoscope of America,” coupled with his phenomenal abilities at the keyboard wowed the audience as much as the novelty of hearing jazz idioms in a “classical” work.
The original opening clarinet solo, written by Gershwin, got its trademark jazzy glissando from Whiteman’s clarinetist Ross Gorman. This opening unleashes a floodgate of colorful ideas that blend seamlessly. The pulsing syncopated rhythms and showy music later give way to a warm, expansive melody that suggests the lush romanticism of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Caroline Shaw: The Observatory
Composer: born August 1, 1982, Greenville, NC
Work composed: 2019. Dedicated “to Xian Zhang, the brilliant conductor who premiered this work, and whose generosity, wisdom, and energy is something that I aspire to in my own life in music.”
World premiere: Xian Zhang led the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on August 27, 2019.
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, glockenspiel, snare drum, vibraphone, piano, and strings
Estimated duration: 16 minutes
Composer, violinist, vocalist, and producer Caroline Shaw became the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 with her groundbreaking Partita for 8 Voices. Today, Shaw is a sought-after composer/performer in multiple genres, including classical music, film and television scores, and contemporary popular music. She has received numerous awards, including several Grammys (most recently 2022’s Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Narrow Sea). Over the last decade, Shaw has written over 100 works for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, the LA Philharmonic, Philharmonia Baroque, Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, and Ars Nova Copenhagen, among others. As vocalist or composer, Shaw and her work have been featured in several films, TV series, and podcasts, including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, Tár, Dolly Parton’s America, and More Perfect.
Shaw’s compositions refute the common belief that contemporary music is by definition obscure, esoteric, or comprehensible only to musical cognoscenti. Instead, Shaw creates music that appeals to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, with its fresh approach to established forms, accessible sounds, and moments of pure joy. While Shaw’s music defies easy categorization, some commonalities do emerge. Each piece creates a particular atmosphere that draws listeners in. In Shaw’s more recent music, melodies, harmonies, and rhythms ebb and flow, creating a sense of inevitability or even déjà vu. Shaw’s official biography alludes to this quality: “Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed.”
“One morning on a visit to Los Angeles, I hiked up the hill to Griffith Observatory, to clear my head before returning to work on this piece for orchestra,” Shaw writes. “I looked down at the city with all its curving road patterns, and up at the sky, which has been observed and wondered about since the beginning of consciousness. I had been thinking about my friend Kendrick Smith, a cosmologist at the Perimeter Institute who is at the cutting edge of the ancient tradition of stargazing. Kendrick constructs new conceptual frameworks for analyzing data collected by the CHIME radio telescope – developing ways of looking at ways of looking at ways of looking at nn (ways of looking at) the universe. (Maybe that is also what music can be.)
“There was something about writing for a full symphony orchestra that had made me think about sci-fi films. I love the way epic tales of the beyond can zoom in and out, using imagined alternative universes to tell stories about ourselves on multiple scales at once. And I love how music in these films carves and colors our attention to those worlds (in their various permutations).
“The Observatory features some very large chords, and some very large spaces. Motives appear in diminution and augmentation simultaneously, like objects in orbit at different phases. Patterns in the foreground occasionally yield to patterns hovering in the background (including brief references to Strauss’ Don Juan, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, and to the arpeggios played on chimes to summon audiences to their seats at formal orchestra concerts). There is celebration and criticism of systems, amid moments of chaos and of clarity. The very large chords return at the end, but their behavior is not the same as when we began.”
Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Composer: born August 25, 1918, Lawrence, MA; died October 14, 1990, New York City
Work composed: The musical West Side Story was written in 1957. Bernstein, along with orchestrators and colleagues Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, made a suite of central themes from the score in 1961. The Symphonic Dances are dedicated “To Sid Ramin, in friendship.”
World premiere: Lukas Foss led the New York Philharmonic on February 13, 1961.
Instrumentation: 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bongos, bass drum, chimes, congas, 3 cowbells, cymbals, drum kit, finger cymbals, glockenspiel, gourds, guiro, maracas, police whistle, 3 snare drums, tenor drum, tambourine, tam-tam, timbales, tom-toms, triangle, vibraphone, woodblock, xylophone, celesta, piano, harp, and strings
Estimated duration: 22 minutes
Romeo and Juliet’s tale of tragic love transcends time and place; it retains its emotional intensity whether performed in Shakespearean costume or modern dress, with words in English or German or Japanese. In fact, Shakespeare's story is itself based on the familiar tale of star-crossed lovers, forbidden love, and tragic miscommunication, dating back as far as Greek mythology and continuing to this day.
In 1957, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story transformed Shakespeare’s Verona into the gang-infested streets of New York City, and the young lovers into Tony and Maria, both associated with warring gangs of whites and Puerto Ricans. Bernstein’s groundbreaking musical, conceived with choreographer Jerome Robbins, fundamentally changed the nature of musical theater. Since its premiere, West Side Story has become synonymous with Bernstein’s vibrant, energetic style.
The nine movements of the Symphonic Dances were assembled in 1961 and follow the basic outline of the musical. The Prologue introduces the Jets and Sharks and their constant gang war, which is broken up by a piercing blast from a policeman’s whistle. This segues into a tender dream sequence, set to the music of Somewhere, in which the two gangs cease their warfare and become friends. In the Scherzo, this dream world continues as the gang members escape the stifling atmosphere of the city to enjoy fresh air and sunshine. This dream is abruptly snuffed out in the exhilaratingly ominous Mambo, in which the Jets and Sharks continue their rivalry through an exciting and violent dance of one-upmanship. The heat and energy of the Mambo dissolve into an intimate Cha-Cha, when Tony and Maria first speak to one another. Tony’s gang, the Jets, then take the stage to demonstrate their unshakeable Cool. The Sharks confront the Jets in a climactic Rumble, in which the leaders of both gangs are killed. Tony’s funeral procession, set to the music of Somewhere, brings the Symphonic Dances to its affecting conclusion.
© Elizabeth Schwartz