Gershwin–Concerto in F–Levant and Toscaninin
This is Monday’s music post; and according to our normal rules, we should be looking at the next wonderful Broadway show which opened on December 28, 1925–George Gershwin’s Tip-Toes. However, we must consider one additional factor; this is George Gershwin, a man of many talents. And before Tip-Toes could open on Broadway, Gershwin worked all summer and fall to create his magnificent Concerto in F.
The Concerto in F did not satisfy many critics who claimed that it did not conform to the previously followed norms for the concerto form. While true, it is also irrelevant because Gershwin was being himself, an original that did not conform to any previous standard.
The Concerto in F was commissioned by Walter Damrosch at the New York Symphony Society, a very adventurous organization that was merged with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. This was unfortunate because the Philharmonic was not as inclined to commission or perform modern works.
Gershwin gave the first public performance with Damrosch on December 3, 1925 at Carnegie Hall. Gershwin continued to perform the Concerto until his death in 1937. The recording that we have is from 1944 and features Oscar Levant with the famed NBC Symphony Orchestra, directed by Arturo Toscanini.
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 George Gershwin.
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 start off with the complete Concerto in F, which runs about 30 minutes. There are three movements, the opening Allegro, which runs a little over 12 minutes, the Adagio-Andante second movement, which runs just under 12 minutes and the final movement, the Allegro Agitato, which runs just over 5 minutes.
Our second clip will follow, and it is a video clip from An American in Paris, the 1951 movie. In this clip Oscar dreams that he is playing the final movement on the piano, conducting the orchestra and playing multiple violins.
I am fond of the first movement, in the sense that it suggests what is to come. It is mildly entertaining and at 8:40 explores the same jazz theme that we later find in “Clap Yo’ Hands” in the musical Oh, Kay; however, the second movement has a beautiful theme, which we hear around 15 minutes into the piece. What we always remember is the third movement, which Gershwin’s biographer, Howard Pollack, called “a toccata like prelude.”
Gershwin called it “an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping to the same pace throughout.”
What we feel is the stabbing, staccato piano contrasted with the longer-lined harmony of the orchestra. While the second movement is good, the third movement is filled with Gershwin’s own genius.