Does Rhapsody in Blue pass the chill test for you too?? I've always LOVED this piece and I've always wanted to talk about it on the channel. Finding out more about its history is fascinating. Gigs are gigs, even for George Gershwin in 1924! To us, it feels like a MASSIVE turning point in history. To him though, it was just a gig. He just happened to be Gershwin. ANYHOO...HEY if you want to check out some free course material and get some cool downloads, check out the info for this year's Black Friday sale and sign up at this link! cornellmusicacademy.com/blackfriday
For one thing, musicology is just fun. For another, I just wanted to mention that I have a recording on vinyl of the piano reels that Gershwin himself recorded for this to be done on player piano, of Rhapsody in blue and of an American in Paris. Also Gershwin writing a piece that he didn't want to do, for a thing he didn't want to be in, and it becoming one of his most iconic things reminds me a lot of Michelangelo and the Sistine chapel. He didn't want to work for the Pope. He didn't want to do all that, it was back breaking work and he hated every minute of it, but it's one of the best things in art history.
I have what's called the tear test - if a piece *really* hits me, I start tearing up. It's like the piece just takes over and controls my emotion. This one totally does it for me.
I cannot describe the emotional journey every teenaged clarinetist goes through seeing the opening bars of this sheet music for the first time. The dawning horror of “you want me to play *what*?!?” to realizing it’s gonna be ok, it’s just a scale. Then you do the mental math and realize the speed and technical implications of what fingering needs to happen. And then you weep. Then you try it. And it’s not as bad as you thought? But good god do you have to flub the last, highest bit for a while before you can get it in time….
@@danieltsan5141 It was sophomore year. I was 15 years old. There were 3 days until the concert when the Band Director handed me this so I could pinch hit as the soloist for someone in Jazz Band who was going to be out. I was not a member of the Jazz Band. I will Never Forget. #MusicTrauma 😂
Ok this isn't exactly accurate, it's written as a "scale" but it's played as a gliss, and glissing on clarinet requires the right embouchure, tongue position, and support. The fingering is just smearing your fingers off the tone holes
I played this at the 1984 opening ceremony for the Los Angeles Olympics (along with 83 other pianists). Still have the memories and the powder blue tuxedo.
Rhapsody in Blue's original instrumentation was actually just an expanded jazz big band-- Ferde Grofé, the orchestrator of the version popular today, deserves a lot of credit as well! edit: as pointed out by replies, Gershwin actually just wrote a 2-piano reduction and Grofé even orchestrated the 1924 jazz band version too
It was actually originally written for 2 pianos because gershwin was an inexperienced orchestrator. Grofé orchestrated it for Paul Whiteman's jazz band
@@jsogman Gershwin always intended for the first-performed version to be for solo piano and jazz band, but instead of writing it out that way he wrote it for 2 pianos and handed that version off to Grofé to adapt for the performance version
played the sorcerer's apprentice from fantasia my last concert and that is the hardest piece I've ever played. principal cellist turned around the first rehearsal and told me that he played it in highschool for all-state and he had nightmares about it
You're right. The imagery of this piece in Fantasia is great. For me, it encapsulates the emotional rollercoaster of the musical journey perfectly. I simply love it, both the music and the animation. Such a great style too.
Wrote a paper on this concerto back in college...like a separate comment mentioned Fantasia 2000 bringing this concerto back to the public. One of my favorite remarks I remember researching was...that the piano part wasn't written until 'after' the concert...and that Gershwin improvised the entire performance. Not to mention the opening slide was originally envisioned as a scale and Whiteman's clarinet player changed it as a joke into the iconic slide/glissando.
Chills E V E R Y time I hear this. If its a recording with an audience, tears will flow. Nothing like hearing the applause of a bunch of people transported by great music.
It’s a great piece, and really enjoyable to play piano-solo. A much more recent composer who fused classical and jazz that I still would like to see discussed on this channel is Nikolai Kapustin. If you haven’t heard his work before, you’re in for a treat 😊
Kapustin is like the perfect evolution and maturation of what Gershwin started, and I've yet to come across anybody who blended jazz and classical music as seamlessly as he did!
Thank You, Thank You for showing Leonard Bernstein's performance where he conducts AND plays. This is - in my opinion - the best performance out there. Bernstein nailed it perfectly - ok, not perfectly - which makes me love it more. BTW, tell us about An American In Paris sometime. That iconic final melodic line (which we have to wait almost to the end to hear) is one of the best closing phrase ever written. F - E flat - B flat - G - G flat - slide back up to F.
As to, "It's not perfect." - If you want perfect, program a computer to play it. If you want music with feeling and nuance, get humans to play physical instruments.
Yes, Charles Cornell can tell it's not perfect. Many pianists in the comments maybe can tell. As a 30-year guitar player, maybe with enough listens and the sheet music on hand, maybe I could even tell. In an audience of 10,000 people, listening live, how many would be able to tell? Maybe two?
Thank you for this video! I´m currently studying music in Copenhagen, and this was the first complete piece I ever played with an orchestra. It really is a masterpiece!
I still remember hearing Rhapsody in Blue for the first time! I heard it as I was driving my car, right out of high school, listening to the local classical radio station. Needless to say; my mind was blown!
Man, your energy and enthusiasm in this video is contagious. This was one of your most fun videos to watch just because of how much fun you were having.
This and American in Paris are two of my favorite pieces of symphonic music. The jazz influences and the beautiful orchestrations that are present in these melodies are just out of this world.
This was actually the piece that made me want to learn piano. My brother was in the high school jazz band when he was in sixth grade and they brought in a pianist named Yasko Kubota and the way she played it just made it so obvious that I needed a piece for myself. Such a gorgeous piece ❤️❤️
The joy that he gets from this music is amazing. The way that this piece encorperates everything from a xylophone to a piano. What a song. Gershwin is one of the most amazing composers in history. Thanks for the spotlight!
How is this also how J.R.R. Tolkien also wrote The Lord of the Rings Trilogy? His close friend C.S. Lewis "stole" his book and published it, even though tolkien didn't want to publish it. Coincidence, I think not!
Thank you Charles. The music teacher who inspired me to take such joy in music as I see you do passed away in 2016. Since that day I constantly seek the impulse towards music appreciation that it feels like I lost then and your channel brings a piece of it back to me every time. It is a civil service that you perform and it's important to people. Never stop being this way~
This absolutley is my favorite Gershwin piece. I love how it just sounds like the city and as a former clarinet player, it was my dream to do that solo, but I never got the chance. My local symphony is performing it March and I am so excited to see it.
Man, I'm in love with this piece. From the first time I heard it as a kid, it's probably my favorite orchestral piece. The energy, the motion, the power, the variety! Thanks for sharing - I love your enthusiasm for music!!
This is probably my favorite piece of music ever and your reactions are the same as mine to the rhythms, the powerful chords all of it often brings chills and can make me cry!
I heard this piece for the first time in my childhood watching Fantasia. The animation fitted perfectly and made the composition even more emotional. I now get teary eyed listening to this piece because of the nostalgic childhood memories.
That blue note in the opening clarinet run will always be bonkers. It turns a classical piece distinctly (African) American. Amazing that it'll be 100 years old soon. Still so progressive.
Charles, your joy and wonder while exploring this piece with us is so captivating and amazing. It was like I was hearing it for the first time as a teenager all over again with you by my side! Thank you.
Rhapsody in Blue was one of the pieces that inspired me to try my hand at being a musician. I 've fallen out of practice due to not having the space to do so but I thoroughly was enthralled by it, I always wanted to be that solo clarinetist playing the orchestra into the wall of sound. It's a powerful moving piece that always gives me chills whenever I hear it
Oh damn, thank you for making videos like this one! Your channel is my go-to place to re-ignite my passion when I'm overwhelmed and/or have an imposter syndrome in my score writing. It makes me remember why I do music in the first place. Just cheering along with you to the brilliance makes a big difference to me. Thanks!
I can’t believe I missed this one. I LOVE this piece too ever since when I was a just a kid, I would get goose bumps every time I listen to this .Such an awesome work of art. Thank you for sharing how Gershwin wrote this, I could actually hear the train and chaotic yet rhythmic tempo and sound. When I came to the US decades ago this was the first music sheet for piano that I bought and since I didn’t have a piano back then , I would follow the notes as I listen . It’s great reading everyone input here. 😊
Such a phenomenal piece of music! Thank you for bringing jazz and other less loved styles to a larger audience! It's a shame that they aren't more popular. Gershwin is a legend :D
I'm about to play this piece for concert band in college, actually. I'm doing the clarinet solo! My band professor watches your videos by the way, you make great stuff! Wish me luck lol, I still need to learn how to pitch bend.
This piece makes me cry every single time. Somehow Gershwin managed to put every single emotion in this song. Chills, tears, smiles, anger. They're all in there. Love it.
Thanks for this video! I love this. Brings back memories when I got to perform it (as a the pianist) with a symphonic band several years back. Such a great piece!
This happens to be my all-time favourite piece of music in any genre. It has everything and takes you on an incredible journey of emotions. It is just sensational. Thoroughly enjoyed your detailed breakdown and the reactions you make to the multiple spine-tingling chords throughout.
Omg thank you for covering one of my favorite songs of all time. I heard that all of the different themes have names and I wish I knew what they are. Also, the bit at 10:50 always sounds like Tom & Jerry to me lol.
Now that you mentioned it I can hear the train in it I live next to the train tracks and as a boy used to ride a train from Detroit to wabash Indiana. Thanks
So amazing seeing someone SO HYPED for this!!! Just today I remembered it has been few weeks I havent listened to this masterpiece!!!! :))) My favorite of all time!!!!!!
My most favourite piece ever. I am currently learning this on the piano as a mostly self taught pianist. It is very difficult though extremely fun and beautiful. Love the piece.
I first discovered it when I was like 7 or 8, thanks to it being used by American Airlines in their commercials. Shortly afterwards, my mom got a tape that included the whole piece. I listened to it a lot, only finding out then it was called Rhapsody in Blue. In those days, the nostalgic resurgence of steam locomotives was at its height, with quite a few steam trains running in the Reading, PA area, because it's Reading. The song absolutely conveys the essence of riding behind steam on bolted tracks, passing heavy industry, and watching the sun rise from your cabin as the city springs to life. Which, because I had experienced that, is what I always pictured in my mind.
As a musician hooked on the germans and russians you really brought this to life for me. I play viola and have played this in orchestra few times and I remember how much I enjoyed it but then never listened to it again. The powerful chords and orchestration is just overwhelming. I learned the slow Gershwin piano prelude and really enjoyed that too. You have really inspired me to listen to him again and play! Your videos are so wonderful, I seem to enjoy the same things you do at the same moments. I think their also is a part with some Bach counterpoint going. I can tell by playing his music that he is a real musician, he can live in both worlds. This reminds me how great composers used folk music and elevated it to the high classical music standards. Enescu, Smetana, Dvorak, Khachaturian, even Stravinsky. Mahler elevated klezmer music to that high level, throwing in kletzmer band sounds into times of calm. Ives used american folk tunes all throughout his incredible modern music that was so far ahead in time of the other composers. In any case, I love your passion for music in all forms, amazing stuff my man.
Thank you so much, I have loved this piece since I was a toddler, when I discovered that we had a record that was blue vinyl and had an arial image of 2 grand pianos back-to-back on the label. But then, after the fascination of watching those pianos spin around faded, the music took me away and I've loved it ever since. I remember being pretty young when I started "directing" it in my living room. Powerful memories! Your enthusiasm for the different sections, I'm right there with you!
Charles- I love your videos. We are about the same age, and I graduated with a music ed degree, but played piano for the jazz ensembles, and I had a big focus on jazz pedagogy and history. Watching your videos reminds me of jazz ped classes from undergrad! I was fortunate to get to do a recording of rhapsody in blue with our university orchestra. It was a defining moment in my musical career. I have since left teaching music, and only perform with a few big band gigs a year nowadays, but I love watching your videos and getting to feel like I’m part of it all again. Cheers!
Great explanation!!! It's already one of my favourite concerto pieces, so much so that I played the solo piano arrangement during my graduation recital, and your explanation made me love it even more. ❤
I love this piece! Really captures an era. Never knew all the history behind it. George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture is also an incredibly important and beautiful piece
![TRASH or PASS! Eminem ( Houdini ) [REACTION!!!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cB1WrZcMwMc/mqdefault.jpg)
Does Rhapsody in Blue pass the chill test for you too?? I've always LOVED this piece and I've always wanted to talk about it on the channel. Finding out more about its history is fascinating. Gigs are gigs, even for George Gershwin in 1924! To us, it feels like a MASSIVE turning point in history. To him though, it was just a gig. He just happened to be Gershwin. ANYHOO...HEY if you want to check out some free course material and get some cool downloads, check out the info for this year's Black Friday sale and sign up at this link! cornellmusicacademy.com/blackfriday
cheesburger
For one thing, musicology is just fun. For another, I just wanted to mention that I have a recording on vinyl of the piano reels that Gershwin himself recorded for this to be done on player piano, of Rhapsody in blue and of an American in Paris.
Also Gershwin writing a piece that he didn't want to do, for a thing he didn't want to be in, and it becoming one of his most iconic things reminds me a lot of Michelangelo and the Sistine chapel. He didn't want to work for the Pope. He didn't want to do all that, it was back breaking work and he hated every minute of it, but it's one of the best things in art history.
Charles Cornell, will you ever talk about Nikolai Kapustin? I would love to hear you talk about his music.
I hope u cover the prince of egypt in the future the music is phenominal
I have what's called the tear test - if a piece *really* hits me, I start tearing up. It's like the piece just takes over and controls my emotion. This one totally does it for me.
I cannot describe the emotional journey every teenaged clarinetist goes through seeing the opening bars of this sheet music for the first time. The dawning horror of “you want me to play *what*?!?” to realizing it’s gonna be ok, it’s just a scale. Then you do the mental math and realize the speed and technical implications of what fingering needs to happen. And then you weep. Then you try it. And it’s not as bad as you thought? But good god do you have to flub the last, highest bit for a while before you can get it in time….
love this "from inside the mind of a clarinetist" moment.... got any more for other peices?
i've never related more to a comment before.
@@danieltsan5141 It was sophomore year. I was 15 years old. There were 3 days until the concert when the Band Director handed me this so I could pinch hit as the soloist for someone in Jazz Band who was going to be out. I was not a member of the Jazz Band. I will Never Forget. #MusicTrauma 😂
As a first-year clarinetist, I absolutely cannot wait to go through this moment and learn this piece
Ok this isn't exactly accurate, it's written as a "scale" but it's played as a gliss, and glissing on clarinet requires the right embouchure, tongue position, and support. The fingering is just smearing your fingers off the tone holes
I played this at the 1984 opening ceremony for the Los Angeles Olympics (along with 83 other pianists). Still have the memories and the powder blue tuxedo.
Can you still fit in it? 😉
No. Can't play it anymore either
@@user-ig1ip6yt9chow does one play a powder blue tux?
😂😂😂
🙌🏻 what a fantastic memory to have! 🎉
This is the most 80s thing I’ve ever heard
Rhapsody in Blue's original instrumentation was actually just an expanded jazz big band-- Ferde Grofé, the orchestrator of the version popular today, deserves a lot of credit as well!
edit: as pointed out by replies, Gershwin actually just wrote a 2-piano reduction and Grofé even orchestrated the 1924 jazz band version too
Originally written for two pianos, Grofe made it what we know it as today, an orchestral piece.
Grofé is so underrated. Grand Canyon Suite and Mississippi Suite are amazing.
It was actually originally written for 2 pianos because gershwin was an inexperienced orchestrator. Grofé orchestrated it for Paul Whiteman's jazz band
are you saying Gershwin intended a Jazz Big band or that Grofe orchestrated it that way and THAT was the original version? just am unclear, thanks!
@@jsogman Gershwin always intended for the first-performed version to be for solo piano and jazz band, but instead of writing it out that way he wrote it for 2 pianos and handed that version off to Grofé to adapt for the performance version
Gershwin and Grofe really defined the sound of that era. Unmistakable.
What are some pieces by grofe you recommend?
This is my favorite song. I was so excited a a kid when I heard it in Fantasia. So much imagery! Glad you’re covering it!!
Yes! Fantasia is where I know this piece from, and I’m so grateful for that
played the sorcerer's apprentice from fantasia my last concert and that is the hardest piece I've ever played. principal cellist turned around the first rehearsal and told me that he played it in highschool for all-state and he had nightmares about it
You're right. The imagery of this piece in Fantasia is great. For me, it encapsulates the emotional rollercoaster of the musical journey perfectly. I simply love it, both the music and the animation. Such a great style too.
It was technically Fantasia 2000, FYI for the people reading
Seriously, Fantasia 2000 was WONDERFUL. Underrated as hell for a concert feature. I'm sad we've never had one since.
Wrote a paper on this concerto back in college...like a separate comment mentioned Fantasia 2000 bringing this concerto back to the public. One of my favorite remarks I remember researching was...that the piano part wasn't written until 'after' the concert...and that Gershwin improvised the entire performance. Not to mention the opening slide was originally envisioned as a scale and Whiteman's clarinet player changed it as a joke into the iconic slide/glissando.
Glissando literally means 'slide' in Italian.
@@InventorZahrancool.
Chills E V E R Y time I hear this. If its a recording with an audience, tears will flow. Nothing like hearing the applause of a bunch of people transported by great music.
I "found" this piece when I was a child and played it over and over again on my cassette player... I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rhapsody in Blue.
It’s a great piece, and really enjoyable to play piano-solo.
A much more recent composer who fused classical and jazz that I still would like to see discussed on this channel is Nikolai Kapustin. If you haven’t heard his work before, you’re in for a treat 😊
OMG KAPUSTIN YES 🤩 I'd love to see Charles's take on his etudes
Kapustin is like the perfect evolution and maturation of what Gershwin started, and I've yet to come across anybody who blended jazz and classical music as seamlessly as he did!
The Kapustin piano concertos are so so cool. I’d love to see them live but I don’t know where or how :(
He’s awesome. I’ve been learning his Pastorale Etude. Not easy!
@@sanders_billy not
Thank You, Thank You for showing Leonard Bernstein's performance where he conducts AND plays. This is - in my opinion - the best performance out there. Bernstein nailed it perfectly - ok, not perfectly - which makes me love it more.
BTW, tell us about An American In Paris sometime. That iconic final melodic line (which we have to wait almost to the end to hear) is one of the best closing phrase ever written. F - E flat - B flat - G - G flat - slide back up to F.
As to, "It's not perfect." - If you want perfect, program a computer to play it.
If you want music with feeling and nuance, get humans to play physical instruments.
Yes, Charles Cornell can tell it's not perfect. Many pianists in the comments maybe can tell. As a 30-year guitar player, maybe with enough listens and the sheet music on hand, maybe I could even tell.
In an audience of 10,000 people, listening live, how many would be able to tell? Maybe two?
Man, I just can't stop hearing the inspired train elements throughout the piece. I never knew that! +1 more thing to love about Rhapsody in Blue.
Same! Never would have spotted that- now I can’t unhear it. 😮
Thank you for this video! I´m currently studying music in Copenhagen, and this was the first complete piece I ever played with an orchestra. It really is a masterpiece!
I still remember hearing Rhapsody in Blue for the first time! I heard it as I was driving my car, right out of high school, listening to the local classical radio station. Needless to say; my mind was blown!
Oh my gosh really?! I bet it was!
"To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time." - Leonard Bernstein
found my new favorite quote HAHAHAH
Man, your energy and enthusiasm in this video is contagious. This was one of your most fun videos to watch just because of how much fun you were having.
hated it
This and American in Paris are two of my favorite pieces of symphonic music. The jazz influences and the beautiful orchestrations that are present in these melodies are just out of this world.
7:44 that chord change is indeed godly
This was actually the piece that made me want to learn piano. My brother was in the high school jazz band when he was in sixth grade and they brought in a pianist named Yasko Kubota and the way she played it just made it so obvious that I needed a piece for myself. Such a gorgeous piece ❤️❤️
Yeah but bloody difficult.
Same here. I eventually learned to play it but it took me 2 years after 8 years of lessons and virtually nonstop practice.
The joy that he gets from this music is amazing. The way that this piece encorperates everything from a xylophone to a piano. What a song. Gershwin is one of the most amazing composers in history. Thanks for the spotlight!
How is this also how J.R.R. Tolkien also wrote The Lord of the Rings Trilogy? His close friend C.S. Lewis "stole" his book and published it, even though tolkien didn't want to publish it. Coincidence, I think not!
Charles your love and passion for music is so infectious. I love seeing your reaction to the music as you hear it
Thank you Charles. The music teacher who inspired me to take such joy in music as I see you do passed away in 2016. Since that day I constantly seek the impulse towards music appreciation that it feels like I lost then and your channel brings a piece of it back to me every time. It is a civil service that you perform and it's important to people. Never stop being this way~
This absolutley is my favorite Gershwin piece. I love how it just sounds like the city and as a former clarinet player, it was my dream to do that solo, but I never got the chance. My local symphony is performing it March and I am so excited to see it.
Man, I'm in love with this piece. From the first time I heard it as a kid, it's probably my favorite orchestral piece. The energy, the motion, the power, the variety! Thanks for sharing - I love your enthusiasm for music!!
This is absolutely my favorite Gershwin -- and this is the first time I've heard some of the history behind how it was written. SO amazing.
It is a very emotional piece for me. Joy, chills, chuckles and tears are all there, thanks George.
I love it when you are sharing something you love. It is eyeopening, thrilling and your passion for music is addictive. Thank you sir!
This is probably my favorite piece of music ever and your reactions are the same as mine to the rhythms, the powerful chords all of it often brings chills and can make me cry!
I heard this piece for the first time in my childhood watching Fantasia. The animation fitted perfectly and made the composition even more emotional. I now get teary eyed listening to this piece because of the nostalgic childhood memories.
That blue note in the opening clarinet run will always be bonkers. It turns a classical piece distinctly (African) American.
Amazing that it'll be 100 years old soon. Still so progressive.
Hmmm... "Porgy and Bess" written by two old Jews and a White couple.
@@NoName-zn1sbWhat are you trying to say?
Charles, your joy and wonder while exploring this piece with us is so captivating and amazing. It was like I was hearing it for the first time as a teenager all over again with you by my side! Thank you.
This is one of my all time favorite pieces, particularly the piano version. Thanks for covering this one.
One of my favorite pieces ever written and certain the best piece of American music ever written - thanks for the video!
OH, HELL TO YES. One of my all-time favorite classical pieces. I was waiting for this!
My new favorite video you’ve ever done! Love every moment!
So glad you did this video!!! Greatest of all time and 100 years later- nothing compares!!
Rhapsody in Blue was one of the pieces that inspired me to try my hand at being a musician. I 've fallen out of practice due to not having the space to do so but I thoroughly was enthralled by it, I always wanted to be that solo clarinetist playing the orchestra into the wall of sound. It's a powerful moving piece that always gives me chills whenever I hear it
This piece makes me so happy every time I hear it!! I'm literally smiling from ear to ear after this video!
Thank you for taking time for explaining that permutation. I didn't know it was that but I did know about that play with notes and I adore it !
First heard this amazing piece when I was 7 years old. It gave me chills and tears. It still has the same effect 64 years later.
Charles, I love your joy! Thank you for sharing your heart and your knowledge with the world!
I'm headed to the Symphony this weekend and this will be part of the program. What a great primer for one of my favorite pieces!
Oh damn, thank you for making videos like this one! Your channel is my go-to place to re-ignite my passion when I'm overwhelmed and/or have an imposter syndrome in my score writing. It makes me remember why I do music in the first place. Just cheering along with you to the brilliance makes a big difference to me. Thanks!
Thank you for showcasing my favorite piece of all time! ❤
The first time I heard this, well, it went to my soul. Have always loved it. Your enjoyment of it was enjoyable to see. Thank you!
Boy, do you bring music to life!! LOVE IT!!!
I always have chills listening to this.
This is just glorious; thank you for your insight into this masterpiece.
Fantastic video! Literally one of my favorite pieces of all time. Thank you for shedding light on this :D
I can’t believe I missed this one.
I LOVE this piece too ever since when I was a just a kid, I would get goose bumps every time I listen to this .Such an awesome work of art. Thank you for sharing how Gershwin wrote this, I could actually hear the train and chaotic yet rhythmic tempo and sound.
When I came to the US decades ago this was the first music sheet for piano that I bought and since I didn’t have a piano back then , I would follow the notes as I listen .
It’s great reading everyone input here. 😊
Such a phenomenal piece of music! Thank you for bringing jazz and other less loved styles to a larger audience! It's a shame that they aren't more popular. Gershwin is a legend :D
This might be my favorite piece of music ever, and it was fun watching you enjoy it as much as I do,.
one of my favorite music ever written!!! thanks for the video! love it!!!!
It’s my favorite piece of all time. So satisfying
Just wow... always been one of my favorite pieces. What a great story around it.
I'm about to play this piece for concert band in college, actually. I'm doing the clarinet solo! My band professor watches your videos by the way, you make great stuff! Wish me luck lol, I still need to learn how to pitch bend.
This piece makes me cry every single time. Somehow Gershwin managed to put every single emotion in this song. Chills, tears, smiles, anger. They're all in there. Love it.
YAY BEEN WANTING YOU TO COVER THIS FOR AGES :D
Thanks for this video! I love this. Brings back memories when I got to perform it (as a the pianist) with a symphonic band several years back. Such a great piece!
This happens to be my all-time favourite piece of music in any genre. It has everything and takes you on an incredible journey of emotions. It is just sensational. Thoroughly enjoyed your detailed breakdown and the reactions you make to the multiple spine-tingling chords throughout.
Absolutely my favorite piece of all time. Thanks for doing it justice!
I absolutely LOVE this piece!!
Watching you enjoy music is absolutely wonderful! 😊
That song has always made me feel like I was flying, going higher and higher and then throwing me down to the ground in the finale. Wow!
One of my favorites. Thank you for covering this. You should check on some Kapustin concertos.
One of my favorite orchestral pieces of all time! Thanks for covering it!
Easily my favorite piece ever…such a beautiful and exciting song.
One of my favorite pieces ever. Thank you so much for this look at it.
This is my favorite modern piece of orchestral music and holy cow, did it give me shivers while I was listening to it just now.
Absolutely one of my favorite pieces of all time. I love the joy and awe it elicits. It’s definitely a goosebumps piece!
goose bumps EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!! love it
Omg thank you for covering one of my favorite songs of all time. I heard that all of the different themes have names and I wish I knew what they are.
Also, the bit at 10:50 always sounds like Tom & Jerry to me lol.
your enthusiasm is infectious 👏the genius of gershwin.
Of all the music in Fantasia 2000, this piece is one of my favorites. It's absolutely incredible!
Now that you mentioned it I can hear the train in it I live next to the train tracks and as a boy used to ride a train from Detroit to wabash Indiana. Thanks
I have chills too! ❤
your abilities are amazing
Listening to you get excited about music is just like every conversation I'd ever want to have for the rest of my life.
Awesome commentary! Many thanks for that :)
So amazing seeing someone SO HYPED for this!!! Just today I remembered it has been few weeks I havent listened to this masterpiece!!!! :))) My favorite of all time!!!!!!
I was blown away as a kid when I found out that intro was a clarinet. This is my favorite Gershwin piece!
Every theme is a killer hook. Brillant stuff
I will be honest, I did get teary eyed too when I first heard of this piece. Still get teary eyed until now
This has been one of my favorites since first seriously listening to it in college in about 1960.
I have several recordings of this awesome piece. So yes, it is my favorite Gershwin composition.
My most favourite piece ever. I am currently learning this on the piano as a mostly self taught pianist. It is very difficult though extremely fun and beautiful. Love the piece.
My all-time favorite song, a glorious ride that hasn’t lost its impact since I first heard it 50 years ago.
I first discovered it when I was like 7 or 8, thanks to it being used by American Airlines in their commercials. Shortly afterwards, my mom got a tape that included the whole piece. I listened to it a lot, only finding out then it was called Rhapsody in Blue.
In those days, the nostalgic resurgence of steam locomotives was at its height, with quite a few steam trains running in the Reading, PA area, because it's Reading. The song absolutely conveys the essence of riding behind steam on bolted tracks, passing heavy industry, and watching the sun rise from your cabin as the city springs to life. Which, because I had experienced that, is what I always pictured in my mind.
As a musician hooked on the germans and russians you really brought this to life for me. I play viola and have played this in orchestra few times and I remember how much I enjoyed it but then never listened to it again. The powerful chords and orchestration is just overwhelming. I learned the slow Gershwin piano prelude and really enjoyed that too. You have really inspired me to listen to him again and play! Your videos are so wonderful, I seem to enjoy the same things you do at the same moments. I think their also is a part with some Bach counterpoint going. I can tell by playing his music that he is a real musician, he can live in both worlds. This reminds me how great composers used folk music and elevated it to the high classical music standards. Enescu, Smetana, Dvorak, Khachaturian, even Stravinsky. Mahler elevated klezmer music to that high level, throwing in kletzmer band sounds into times of calm. Ives used american folk tunes all throughout his incredible modern music that was so far ahead in time of the other composers. In any case, I love your passion for music in all forms, amazing stuff my man.
Okay, this is the BEST possible way to start my evening, thank you so much!
That break makes me cry every time...
I had to listen to this as an assignment in my symphony band class recently, this video has such great timing, i love this piece of music :D
Thank you so much, I have loved this piece since I was a toddler, when I discovered that we had a record that was blue vinyl and had an arial image of 2 grand pianos back-to-back on the label. But then, after the fascination of watching those pianos spin around faded, the music took me away and I've loved it ever since. I remember being pretty young when I started "directing" it in my living room. Powerful memories! Your enthusiasm for the different sections, I'm right there with you!
Charles-
I love your videos. We are about the same age, and I graduated with a music ed degree, but played piano for the jazz ensembles, and I had a big focus on jazz pedagogy and history. Watching your videos reminds me of jazz ped classes from undergrad!
I was fortunate to get to do a recording of rhapsody in blue with our university orchestra. It was a defining moment in my musical career.
I have since left teaching music, and only perform with a few big band gigs a year nowadays, but I love watching your videos and getting to feel like I’m part of it all again. Cheers!
Goosebumps guaranteed every time!
Great explanation!!! It's already one of my favourite concerto pieces, so much so that I played the solo piano arrangement during my graduation recital, and your explanation made me love it even more. ❤
When Gershwin premiered this, his fingers literally bled on the keys by the time he was finished. His hands were bandaged to thundering applause.
Great melody and music. What a talent.👍👍
Thank you. This was my uncle's favorite. He bequeathed his 78rpm record to me when he passed. So this has always been a special piece to me.
I love this piece! Really captures an era. Never knew all the history behind it. George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture is also an incredibly important and beautiful piece