 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ed
Date: 2001-10-07 01:54
This sounded a little fishy so I thought I'd get some expert opinions.
I recently heard a story about a professional performer who was not enthralled to perform pops concerts. In fact, he disliked them so much that he didn't bother to practice for an upcoming performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. As the story was told to me, this fellow actually passed away, onstage, during the familiar opening since it turned out to be much more difficult than he expected.
Any hint of truth to that story or is it just another urban legend?
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Author: Mike Harrelson
Date: 2001-10-07 03:37
Two thoughts:
1. Hard to believe that a "professional performer" did not know about Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
2. If clarinet players die when they play something badly, there would be no one left to enjoy this board.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2001-10-07 04:35
I heard it from another clarinet player I ran into - I don't know him well so I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
I totally agree with you Mike - if that were the case I would most definitley be in trouble!
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Author: Wes
Date: 2001-10-07 08:22
The story I heard was that it was a major symphonic clarinet player who had a heart attack brought on by the stress of having to play the solo. I thought that it was the National Symphony or some other group in Washington, DC.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2001-10-07 12:50
From a post in the Klarinet archives by Gary Young:
I found the source of my belief that the clarinetist at the premiere of
Rhapsody in Blue turned the opening run into a glissando/portamento. It's
Pamela Weston's chapter in the Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet, at page
102:
"One of the earliest works to combine jazz with the classical idiom was
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (1924). The opening glissando -- not in
Gershwin's original score but interpolated as a joke by Paul Whiteman's
clarinettist Ross Gorman -- made the composer famous overnight. The
glissando is not every classical player's cup of tea, and indeed proved
fatal to Baltimore's principal clarinet, Georges Grisez (1884-1946), who
died on stage after performing it."
Gary goes on to note that, according to Gunther Schuller, Gershwin *did* write in the gliss.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Ed
Date: 2001-10-08 01:48
Interesting find Jack, I guess fact is stranger than fiction.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2001-10-09 06:24
Ben Kanter told me about 4 years ago that Ross Gorman carried the sections for his various instruments in a big carpet bag. He said that Mr. Gorman sort of slushed his way up the scale and Gershwin liked it. Ben was called to New York from Boston to play the piece on tour and Gershwin wanted the gliss. Ben did it as a chromatic in the first register and slid up the second register and he played it 27 days in a row with Gershwin at the piano. Ben also had some other stylistic things he did in this solo and he showed them to me when I studied with him in the late 50's. Playing well almost to his end, he died about 2 1/2 years ago at age 93.
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