{"id":1771,"date":"2020-05-31T13:12:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T17:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=1771"},"modified":"2020-05-31T13:12:20","modified_gmt":"2020-05-31T17:12:20","slug":"the-gershwin-threat-the-gershwin-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2020\/05\/the-gershwin-threat-the-gershwin-moment.html","title":{"rendered":"The Gershwin Threat\/The Gershwin Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Russian Gershwin\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NR_2b3_EpY0?start=17&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul Rosenfeld, whose writings on American modernist composers were once regarded as insightful and prophetic, detected in George Gershwin the Russian Jew \u201ca weakness of spirit, possibly as a consequence of the circumstance that the new world attracted the less stable types.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rosenfeld (whose own lineage was German Jewish) also wrote of Gershwin: \u201cHis compositions drowse one in a pink world of received ideas and sentiments. The&nbsp;<em>Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>is circus-music, pre-eminent in the sphere of tinsel and fustian. In daylight, nonetheless, it stands vaporous with it second-hand ideas and ecstasies.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rosenfeld believed Aaron Copland\u2019s jazzy Piano Concerto \u2013 music I would call ersatz &#8212; an improvement on Gershwin\u2019s \u201chash derivative\u201d Rhapsody. Copland himself denigrated Gershwin as a gifted dilettante. So did Virgil Thomson. Olin Downes\u2019\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em> Gershwin obituary summarized: \u201cHe never passed a certain point as a \u2018serious\u2019 composer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My friend Ben Pasternack, a wonderful American pianist, has a different view \u2013 that&nbsp;<em>Rhapsody<\/em><em>in Blue<\/em>is evergreen, the most beloved of all American concert works. And I know from Pasternack that his teacher Rudolf Serkin once advised him to learn Gershwin\u2019s Piano Concerto in F \u2013 \u201cthat\u2019s a good piece.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These observations summarize what I have long called \u201cthe Gershwin threat\u201d and \u201cthe Gershwin moment.\u201d The Gershwin threat was seemingly felt by all American-born classical musicians: they feared his genius. European-born classical musicians weren\u2019t threatened, and the list of Gershwin admirers includes Otto Klemperer, Jascha Heifetz, Dmitri Shostakovich, Fritz Reiner, Arnold Schoenberg, Maurice Ravel, etc., etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gershwin moment is right now. Music historians study and esteem him (they never did before). We no longer segregate\u00a0<em>Rhapsody in Blue<\/em> on pops concerts (as the Boston Symphony did until 1997).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These themes feed \u201cThe Russian Gershwin,\u201d the latest installment in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/postclassical.com\/performances\/postclassical-more-than-music\/\">PostClassical Ensemble\u2019s \u201cMore than Music\u201d initiative<\/a><\/strong>. This 60-minute film (embedded above), hosted by Bill McGlaughlin with commentary by Angel Gil-Ordonez and yours truly, centers on a memorable performance of\u00a0<em>Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>by Genadi Zagor, a Russian virtuoso who improvises. It also includes three of my favorite historic Gershwin recordings \u2013 by Otto Klemperer, Ruby Elzy, and Lawrence Tibbett. Behrouz Jamali has added a wealth of historic photographs. We are pretty proud of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019d like to chat about Gershwin, \u201cMore than Music\u201d follows up our PCE videos with zoom chats. There will be two, both hosted by the inimitable McGlaughlin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Thursday, June 4 (6 to 7 pm ET), \u201cA Gershwin Roundtable\u201d features a live performance by\u00a0\u00a0the fabulous jazz artist\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/karrin.com\">Karrin Allyson<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 plus Angel, myself, Genadi Zagor, and Mark Clague, who heads the Gershwin Initiative at the University of Michigan. The main topics will be\u00a0<em>Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>, the (much underrated)\u00a0<em>Cuban<\/em> Overture, and\u00a0<em>An American in Paris<\/em> (which Mark will explain was originally ambitiously cast in something like sonata form).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Wednesday, June 10 (6 to 7 pm ET) we will tackle the American composition upon which the most nonsense and ignorance has been lavished, and which in my opinion is the highest American achievement in classical music:&nbsp;<strong><em>Porgy and Be<\/em>ss<\/strong>. Our participants will include&nbsp;<strong>George Shirley<\/strong>, the first African-American tenor to sing lead roles at the Met;&nbsp;<strong>Kevin Deas<\/strong>, one of today\u2019s pre-eminent exponents of Gershwin\u2019s Porgy; and&nbsp;<strong>Conrad L. Osborne<\/strong>, a supreme authority on opera in performance. Also&nbsp;<strong>Mark Clague<\/strong>, Angel, and myself. The topics at the table will include:&nbsp;<strong>should white singers sing&nbsp;<em>Porgy<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To sign up for June 4, click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/meeting\/register\/tZMldOuuqj4pGdRnVRtkCU6s6gp5rnwYjZLm\"><strong>here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To sign up for June 10, click<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/meeting\/register\/tZ0vc-2qrT8qGNS5blaVR6cqEwHPs_txsnJ4\"><strong>here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read my&nbsp;<em>American Scholar<\/em>review of the Met\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Porgy and Bess<\/em>, click&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/theamericanscholar.org\/porgy-and-bess-at-the-met\/#.XtHQ8BNKj6o\">here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read Conrad\u2019s review, click <a href=\"http:\/\/conradlosborne.com\/2019\/11\/03\/notes-on-porgy\/\"><strong>here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To see what Kevin Deas has to say about Porgy (\u201cdon\u2019t sing it standing up\u201d), click&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2019\/10\/is-porgy-a-stereotype-take-three.html\">here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To see what George Shirley has to say, click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=q22KzJ9jSDw\"><strong>here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be continued . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Rosenfeld, whose writings on American modernist composers were once regarded as insightful and prophetic, detected in George Gershwin the Russian Jew \u201ca weakness of spirit, possibly as a consequence of the circumstance that the new world attracted the less stable types.\u201d Rosenfeld (whose own lineage was German Jewish) also wrote of Gershwin: \u201cHis compositions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-sz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1771"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1774,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771\/revisions\/1774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}