Gershwin–Concerto in F, 1951

We had intended to limit the George Gershwin exploration to just 4 posts; however, from the many comments we have received, we thought we would add one further comment about Oscar Levant. Oscar was a self-confessed neurotic, with a great sense of humor. His most famous quote was something along these lines: “There is a fine line between genius and madness. I have blurred that line.” He was a good actor but was famous for his interpretation of the piano works of GG. When I first started to collect records, I asked my Father about George and Oscar. I had limited allowance money and had to choose between them when selecting a record. My Father, who knew many of the jazz greats, said that Oscar could interpret the music best, even though George wrote it. As I was able to buy more records, I was able to compare the two men’s performances for myself. George had a wild abandon when he played, so much so that he didn’t often take the time to finish a musical sequence. It was almost a case where his mind was getting ahead of his fingers. Oscar, on the other hand, had a controlled frenzy about his playing, as if he were trying to exorcise demons with the music. Neither man was ever satisfied with their body of work, because each man thought he never quite captured what was in his head.

We are going to provide you with a number of url’s for Oscar, so that you can listen to his version of Gershwin’s entire Concerto in F, recorded with the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York in 1945, running just over 30 minutes ( https://youtu.be/5RdmR_5kbDc ), and his interpretation of Gershwin’s entire Rhapsody in Blue, running just over 12 minutes, recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1945 ( https://youtu.be/YiI5WmiIVrY ).

Finally, we are going to provide you with the “Oscar Levant” dream sequence from the movie, An American in Paris, released in 1951. In it, Oscar has a fantasy that he is playing all parts and conducting a concerto. It flashes from a dream to a beautifully filmed final five minutes of the Third Movement, Allegro Agitato. What you will see is one of the finest performances caught on film; what you will hear is the incessant, staccato hammering of the piano contrasted with the lovely harmonic line of the full orchestra in response. The first two movements are good; the third movement is genius.