Klarinet Archive - Posting 000692.txt from 1999/11

From: Don Longacre <nw2v@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] pitch bending and the Gershwin Blue Cadenza
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:55:06 -0500

Klara Hall:

I recall having seen a print of the original Gershwin cadenza as premiered
by the Paul Whiteman band in 1924. Gershwin's intent was a chromatic ascent to
the top note. But Ross Gorman, the clarinet player,took the unbelievable
liberty of making a prolonged glissando out of it with the net result the gliss
was left in forevermore. I have also heard it played chromatically up to the
break then glissed in the clarion register. For just the glissando you might
try a softer reed on an open tip mp then switch back to your customary setup.

Ferde Grofe' (Grand Canyon Suite) was a sideman with Whiteman at the time and
is credited with the arrangement of R in B which Whiteman used for years.
Since Whiteman commissioned the work from Gershwin and rushed him to get it
done, references hold that Gershwin orchestrated the premier performance at
Aeolian Hall in 1924 and played the piano part as well. This happened two
years before I was born and needless to say I wasn't there. I do enjoy
though, these anecdotal incidents in music history. All this may be nothing
new but I thought I'd send it along. Can you imagine the colossal nerve of
that clarinet player? But, I think of that glissando as a banner, emblematic
of the jazz age. Good luck on yours!

Donald Longacre

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