Klarinet Archive - Posting 000636.txt from 1997/09

From: Detlef Kretschmer <detlef@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: Rhapsody in Blue
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 17:11:45 -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!
>
Actually Gershwin scored for double piano, the score being finished a
couple of weeks before the performance.

The Paul Whiteman ochestra had a somewhat funny composition. At the second
recording ever done of the Rhapsody in Blue (21 April 1927), there were
four reed players alternating among oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano,
alto, tenor & baritone sax; two French horns; three trumpets; two
trombones; two players doubling on tuba and string bass; drums, cymbals,
timpani and bells; five violins; two violas; one cello; accompanying piano;
solo piano (played by Gershwin).

By the way a little question, is there any reason why the Rhapsody in Blue
is played nowadays much slower than at the time? Paul Whiteman played the
full version (there were some cuts for the recorded version in order to fit
onto two sides of a disc) in about 12 minutes; lately I came across a
recording which took 23 minutes! This takes away most of the frency (?) of
the original.

Detlef Kretschmer
Dipl. Ing., DSc., Prof.
Dept. Mechanical Engineering
Laval University
Quebec, QC, Canada G1K 7P4

Voice (418) 656-5409
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