Klarinet Archive - Posting 000664.txt from 1997/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Rhapsody in Blue
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 22:47:46 -0400

At 07:17 AM 9/12/97 -0400, Detlef Kretschmer wrote:
>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.
>
Almost all of the music of that era is played slower now. Take the
Gershwin song "Someone to Watch Over Me." It is now usually done as a slow
torch ballad, and works great that way. But I have a recording of Gershwin
himself playing it on piano at about quarter note = 180! With popular
songs I think it a matter of DANCE tempos, which were faster then. I
believe that carried over to a jazz-tinged piece like Rhapsody in Blue.

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.