Klarinet Archive - Posting 000552.txt from 1997/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Rhapsody in Blue
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 19:52:06 -0400

At 10:38 AM 9/8/97 -0400, you wrote:
...Now we all know
>that Gershwin (the composer) played this work as a solo piano piece and
>that the original instrumental scoring was for big band (saxes [doubling
>clarinet], trumpets, trombones, and rhythm section). So why should he have
>cared which clarinet I used? Well the orchestral arrangement is that of
>Ferde Grofe, and he really knew how to select instrumental tone colors...

By the way, Ferde Grofe also did the scoring for the first performance with
the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (not a true big band, but a precursor of sorts)
which included the above named instruments plus a number of strings. It
was done in a mad scramble just before the performance, with Grofe being
handed sheet after sheet of the completed piano part as Gershwin completed
it while he orchestrated it on the fly. The clarinet gliss opening came
about in large measure because Ross Gorman, Whiteman's clarinetist, could
do it. My guess is that it would have been scored for clarinet in F# if
that was what Gorman had!

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.