Klarinet Archive - Posting 000095.txt from 1995/02

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Gershwin solo
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 1995 19:27:41 -0500

On Wed, 1 Feb 1995, Christopher G Zello wrote:

> I have heard a number of stories regarding the first rehearsals of the
> Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue solo. Everything from the clarinet slipped, to
> the guy was messing around, to he was a sax player who had no clarinet
> embouchure so he glissandoed (??) the whole scale. Each person swore
> their story was accurate information.
>
>
> Historically, who played this clarinet solo the first time? Does anyone
> accurately know what _really_ happenned during the first rehearsals?
> What role did Gershwin play in the premiere? How about some places to
> look this stuff up?
>
>
> Christopher Zello
> czello@-----.edu

Chris,

The clarinetist was Ross Gorman, a star-quality jazz virtuoso on the
clarinet. At the first rehearsal, Gorman intentionally smeared the entire
opening run to Paul Whiteman's complete horror. When Whiteman scolded Gorman
for his liberty in playing the gliss and told him to play it as written,
Gershwin interrupted, telling Whiteman, "No, no, leave it in. I like it
better that way."

Gorman's wasn't the only external contribution to the piece. The
Rhapsody was to be the finale to an "Experiment" in which the evolution
of American music was to be traced at a concert for the musical
cogniscenti at New York's Aeolian Hall in 1924. During a rehearsal,
Victor Herbert, who was present to hear one of his pieces, approached
Gershwin with a suggestion on improving one of the Rhapsody's bridge
passages. Gershwin liked the suggestion instantly and changed the score
at once. Thus, like Gorman, Herbert was credited with making a small, but
musically cogent contribution to the "Rhapsody in Blue."

Because of the press of time and other obligations, Gershwin, who
had apparently written out a two-piano score, agreed to let someone else
do the orchestration, in this case, Whiteman's arranger, Ferde Grofe.
That expediency saddled Gershwin with an undeserved reputation of being
an inadequate orchestrator -- a reputation that dogged him for much of
his career. Eventually his concert works and "Porgy" laid that to rest.

Regarding the actual premiere concert, until the "Rhapsody,"
which was the last piece scheduled at the concert, was actually played,
the single person who had been the star was Gorman, who had apparently
done a number of dazzling solo turns with several small groups earlier in
the program.

But, toward the end of the second half of the concert -- because
of the sameness of the pieces presented (they purported to represent the
state of the art in American jazz, without including works by some of the
best composers like James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, or James Lamb)
-- people grew restive through increasing boredom and started straying,
some toward the exits. Gorman's virtuoso performances in the first half
of the concert were all but forgotten, and Whiteman's "Experiment" was
failing.

After the penultimate piece, N.Y. Times music critic Olin Downes
noted, "Then stepped upon the stage, sheepishly, a lank and dark young
man -- George Gershwin. According to another account, Gershwin had been
watching from the wings the alarming loss of audience interest in the
concert. Close on the heels of the final notes of the preceding
piece, Gershwin rushed out to the piano and nodded immediately to
Whiteman, who pointed to Gorman, whose clarinet whoop began the
"Rhapsody;" the effect was electrifying.

Quoting Edward Jablonski in his biography, "Gershwin," (Doubleday,
1987):

"By the time Gorman's clarinet had stirred up the audience with
the 'outrageous cadenza,' as Downes described it, Whiteman's Experiment
was a decided success; the hall's deserters hurried back to their seats."

Regarding bibliography, there are numerous volumes. Jablonski also
had an earlier work, "The Gershwin Years," (1958, rev. 1973) which he wrote
with Lawrence D. Stewart. One of my favorites is "The Gershwins" by
Robert Kimball and Alfred Simon (Atheneum, 1973). A large, rambling
coffee-table book, this has numerous reminiscences of friends and
colleagues, plus a large number of photographs, copies of letters,
manuscripts, and artwork.

Connie

Conrad Josias
La Canada, California